Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112073

Deborah S. Edelman, DrPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Adolescent Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Room 4533, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410.614.3955, dedelman@jhsph.edu

Youth radio programs have been multiplying across the United States since 1992. This presentation will describe a research project focused on youth radio programs to track their exponential growth and to determine their public health value. Although these programs vary, they usually train teenagers to record and produce stories about their lives for broadcast on the radio. Anecdotal evidence suggested that youth radio programs benefit health. For example, some observed that the youth involved make healthier choices in their lives by gaining competency and skills. When KMEL discontinued its popular youth call-in program, Street Soldiers, listeners protested that teen pregnancy rates and gang violence in the community resumed formerly high levels as a result. Such claims warranted formal research. This presentation will report on a three-part study of youth radio. The first phase documents the development of youth radio programs to the present, the second phase evaluates the health impact of youth radio programs on their participants and audience, and the third phase uses the data collected in the second phase to generate recommendations for creating youth radio programs with maximum public health value. Ultimately, this research will help inform a larger field of inquiry regarding the role of the media in public health.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to
• Recognize the link between public health and youth radio programs;
• Describe the media as a social determinant of health.
• Evaluate a radio program in terms of its contribution to public health promotion.

Keywords: Communication, Adolescent Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.