A Spanish language radio drama for obesity and tobacco prevention

We developed and broadcast a Spanish language radio novella in 2011-2012 as part of the county's Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative. Following the Sabido entertainment education strategy, the serial drama, Promesas y Traiciones, was developed with extensive community input. With funding from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Diabetes Research and Training Center, we pilot tested the first 12 episodes of the series. Of the three behaviors assessed via self report – eating fried foods, drinking sweet drinks, and eating fruits and vegetables – we saw a positive change for two: the percent reporting eating fried foods 4-7 days per week decreased from 41.6% to 22.6%; the percent reporting eating at least two portions of fruits and vegetables daily increased from 32.3% to 45.1%. Additional positive changes were seen in relation to confidence to avoid fatty food (increased) and the belief that a diet rich in fried food is related to diabetes (strengthened). The fried food related items were of interest because the modeling of consequences in the novella was especially vivid with regard to fried foods. An overweight mother character who has diabetes eats several empanadas (fried meat pies) despite protests from her daughter, claiming, “The only think that I want is another one of those empanadas.” In later episodes the mother suffers a heart attack and dies in the hospital.