Television as a Health Educator: A Case Study of Grey’s Anatomy


 

Publication Date: September 2008

Publisher: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health; Media, telecommunications, and information

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

In order to document how well viewers learn health information from entertainment television, the Foundation worked with writers at Grey’s Anatomy to embed a health message in an episode, and then surveyed viewers on the topic before and after the episode aired. The study included three national random-digit-dial telephone surveys of regular viewers of the show, conducted one week before, one week after, and – to test retention of the information – six weeks after the target episode aired.