141st APHA Annual Meeting

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Telenovelas impact on the public health arena and implications for public health messaging and sustainability. “sin verguenza”, a four-part telenovela miniseries tackles shame and stigma in the Latino community as part of a routine HIV testing campaign

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Natalie Sanchez , AltaMed Health Servcies Corporation, Los Angeles, CA
Hilda Sandoval, PhD., MFTI , AltaMed Health Services Corporation, Los Angeles, CA
Thomas Siegmeth, MPH, CHES , AltaMed Health Services Corporation, Los Angeles, CA
Gino Galvez, Ph.D. , NCLR/CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation and Leadership Training, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Britt Rios-Ellis, PhD, MS , NCLR/CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation and Leadership Training, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Although Latinos are disproportionately impacted by HIV, scant public health culturally and linguistically-relevant messages encourage Latinos to engage in safer sex practices and/or routine testing. To address this void, AltaMed created a family-based mini-telenovela series to reach a large Latino audience and address cultural and contextual barriers that contribute to HIV risk. Methods: AltaMed Health Services Corporation, the largest U.S. Federally Qualified Health Center, developed a four-series English and Spanish telenovela entitled “Sin Verguenza”. Telenovelas are immensely popular among Latinos throughout the US and Latin America. A web-based telenovela format was selected as a means to expand access to HIV-related educational media. The series is featured on You-tube and Facebook and offers both entertainment and salient public health messages, which include sexuality and safer sex, HIV testing, the importance of education, homophobia, gender roles, and information that HIV is a treatable and manageable disease. Results: The telenovela medium has attracted a diverse Latino audience throughout Southern California and ten Latin American countries. Viewer characteristics have been collected and will be presented. New media video-sharing platforms have broadened AltaMed's viewership proving that novelas are an effective way of reaching a broad at-risk population that might not otherwise perceive themselves as at-risk. Conclusions: AltaMed's “Sin Verguenza” telenovela project posits a cost-effective and viable model for delivering public health messages and increasing Latinos perception of risk. Web-based, culturally relevant, multi-lingual telenovelas appear to be a successful method for reaching Latinos on a global level.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Define the cultural barriers that put the Latino community at risk of HIV. Identifiy intergenerational differences and similarities that impede the Latino community from addressing taboo health issues and preventative behaviors. Explain the benefits of routine testing in Latino communities. Demonstrate the effectiveness of videos in delivering an impactful and sustainable public health message.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Sexual Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have managed multiple federally funded grants focusing on HIV prevention and HIV testing. I am also co cocreator and cowriter of the Sin Verguenza telenovela that was produced by AltaMed in order to raise awareness on the benefits of routine HIV Testing in the Latino community. I have worked in the HIV field for over 10 years and have established many of the best practices in routune HIV testing in the state of California.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.