Portrayal of tobacco use in prime-time TV dramas: trends and associations with adult cigarette consumption--USA, 1955-2010

Characterizing the Influence of Television Health Entertainment Narratives in Lay Populations: A Scoping Review

Objective

To conduct a scoping review of published literature examining the influence of health storylines from fictional television programs on viewers.

Data Source

We performed literature searches in Medline, PsycINFO, and Mass Media Complete in October 2021, and examined bibliographies of included articles and conducted forward searching using Web of Science with included articles.

Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Selected studies were required to be original research published in English, involve exposure to fictional television programming by individuals not in the medical field, and assess associations between exposure and health-related outcomes.

Data Extraction

Article screening and data abstraction were performed by two independent researchers using DistillerSR (Cohen’s κ range: .73-1.00).

Data Synthesis

We analyzed and qualitatively described the data using methods of scoping reviews described by PRISMA-ScR.

Results

Of 5,537 unique records identified, 165 met inclusion criteria. The most frequently studied program was ER (n = 22, 13.3%). Most studies had adult participants (n = 116, 70.3%) and used quantitative methods (n = 136, 82.4%). The most frequently examined health topics were sexual behavior (n = 28, 17.0%) and mental health (n = 28, 17.0%). Exposure had a positive influence on viewers’ health-related outcomes in 28.5% (n = 47) of studies.

Conclusion

Health storylines on fictional television influence viewers. Future research could address gaps identified in this review to further elucidate the influence of this programming on health promotion and disease prevention.

The Effects of Tobacco Coverage in the Public Communication Environment on Young People's Decisions to Smoke Combustible Cigarettes

In today's complex media environment, does media coverage influence youth and young adults' (YYA) tobacco use and intentions? We conceptualize the "public communication environment" and effect mediators, then ask whether over time variation in exogenously measured tobacco media coverage from mass and social media sources predicts daily YYA cigarette smoking intentions measured in a rolling nationally representative phone survey (N = 11,847 on 1,147 days between May 2014 and June 2017). Past week anti-tobacco and pro-tobacco content from Twitter, newspapers, broadcast news, Associated Press, and web blogs made coherent scales (thetas = 0.77 and 0.79). Opportunities for exposure to anti-tobacco content in the past week predicted lower intentions to smoke (Odds ratio [OR] = 0.95, p < .05, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.91-1.00). The effect was stronger among current smokers than among nonsmokers (interaction OR = 0.88, p < .05, 95% CI = 0.77-1.00). These findings support specific effects of anti-tobacco media coverage and illustrate a productive general approach to conceptualizing and assessing effects in the complex media environment.

Misleading Claims About Tobacco Products in YouTube Videos: Experimental Effects of Misinformation on Unhealthy Attitudes

BACKGROUND

Recent content analyses of YouTube postings reveal a proliferation of user generated videos with misleading statements about the health consequences of various types of nontraditional tobacco use (eg, electronic cigarettes; e-cigarettes).

OBJECTIVE

This research was aimed at obtaining evidence about the potential effects of YouTube postings about tobacco products on viewers' attitudes toward these products.

METHODS

A sample of young adults recruited online (N=350) viewed one of four highly viewed YouTube videos containing misleading health statements about chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes, hookahs, and pipe smoking, as well as a control YouTube video unrelated to tobacco products.

RESULTS

The videos about e-cigarettes and hookahs led to more positive attitudes toward the featured products than did control videos. However, these effects did not fully translate into attitudes toward combustive cigarette smoking, although the pipe video led to more positive attitudes toward combustive smoking than did the chewing and the hookah videos, and the e-cigarette video led to more positive attitudes toward combustive cigarette smoking than did the chewing video.

CONCLUSIONS

This research revealed young people's reactions to misleading claims about tobacco products featured in popular YouTube videos. Policy implications are discussed.

Measuring Exposure Opportunities: Using Exogenous Measures in Assessing Effects of Media Exposure on Smoking Outcomes

Measurement of exposure has long been one of the most central and fundamental issues in communication research. While self-reported measures remain dominant in the field, alternative approaches such as exogenous or hybrid measures have received increasing scholarly attention and been employed in various contexts for the estimation of media exposure; however, systematic scrutiny of such measures is thin. This study aims to address the gap by systematically reviewing the studies which utilized exogenous or hybrid exposure measures for examining the effects of media exposure on tobacco-related outcomes. We then proceed to discuss the strengths and weaknesses, current developments in this class of measurement, drawing some implications for the appropriate utilization of exogenous and hybrid measures.