Health content on primetime television: An analysis of how health storylines differ by audience ethnicity

Studies have shown that health content depicted on fictional television programs is associated with change in audience members. However, since audience members have different television viewing habits, not all television audiences will be equally exposed to health content on TV. Therefore, identifying the health content that different audiences are exposed to provides insight into the potential and divergent health-related impacts of TV viewing on audience members. In the US, minority populations such as African Americans and Hispanics have been identified as having greater health risks than Caucasians for several health issues. Therefore, this study identifies the health content depicted in the most popular primetime US broadcast television programs watched by three major audience segments. A content analysis of 615 health storylines from the spring 2009 television season was conducted. Research questions focused on analyzing the differences in the health storylines watched by General, African American and Hispanic audiences. Overall, the findings suggest that Hispanic audiences watching English language television are exposed to health storylines with significantly less educational content, depicting less health-related change, that are least likely to take place in a health care setting. In addition, health storylines that Hispanic audiences watched were more likely to include a work-related social determinant of health, such as that related to income or work conditions. These data suggest that Hispanic audiences are being exposed to less health information from watching television. The implications of these and other findings and directions for future research will be discussed.