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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Susan E. Morgan, PhD¹, Grace Huang, MPH², Mary Ganikos, PhD³, Lauren Movius, PhD student⁴, and Michael Cody, PhD⁴. (1) Department of Communication, Purdue University, Beering Hall Room 2114, West Lafayette, IN 47907, (2) Hollywood, Health & Society Program, USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, 8383 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 650, Beverly Hills, CA 90211, 323-782-3321, grace.huang@usc.edu, (3) Division of Transplantation, Health Resources and Services Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane Rm. 12C-06, Rockville, MA 20857, (4) Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California, 3502 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089

In spite of ample evidence that entertainment television can have a positive impact on the perceptions of many public health topics, less empirical attention has been devoted to the impact of organ donation and transplantation portrayals in daytime and prime time television dramas. In the first portion of the talk, we will review portrayals of organ donation storylines and scenes from a 2-year study of the 2003-2005 television seasons. A media monitoring service called ShadowTV, which provided streaming video clips and closed-caption transcripts of all organ donation-related content, will be discussed. We will show sample media clips of some problematic treatments of organ donation from this study.

In the second portion of the talk, we will describe an evaluation methodology, including before and after surveys and online polls of TV viewers, designed to measure the impact of various entertainment television storylines, public service announcements and news media that resulted from outreach activities to TV writers and news reporters during the 2005-2006 television season. We will answer the question about what the public learns from Hollywood portrayals of organ donation and how true facts are distinguished amidst the dramatization. Findings will address how exposure to these organ donation plot lines and different media outlets can have an impact on donation attitudes, knowledge and intentions to donate one's own organs after death.

Learning Objectives:

• • Describe the impact of entertainment television on organ donation attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors.
• • Discuss the differences in portrayals of organ donation between entertainment and news media.
• • Describe an evaluation methodology designed to assess the impact of television portrayals of organ donation on the public.

Keywords: Media Message, Methodology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No