Impact Data - ER
Date
Methodologies
A series of ten separate national random-sample telephone surveys of regular ER viewers were conducted during the period from March 1997 through April 2000. A total of 3,500 regular ER viewers (those watching 3 out of 4 new episodes) were surveyed (300-500 per survey). Three of the 10 surveys were conducted during April - June 1997, evaluating the impact of an episode that contained a vignette on emergency contraception. The pre-show survey was administered a week before the episode aired, while the post-show was conducted with a separate sample of regular ER viewers the week after the episode aired. The follow-up survey was conducted with yet another sample of regular ER viewers 2 and a half months after the episode aired. Another 3 of the 10 surveys were conducted during February - April 2000, evaluating the impact of an episode that discussed HPV, the timing was the same except that the follow-up was conducted 6-7 weeks after the airing. The remaining 4 surveys were conducted throughout the 1997/98 television season, to investigate interest in health-related story lines and personal actions taken based on these story lines. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Knowledge Shifts
The 1997 study examined a 1-minute discussion about use of the Emergency Contraception (EC) Pill to prevent pregnancy after date rape. The proportion of viewers who were aware of EC increased from 50% of viewers to 67% of viewers after the episode aired; however, 2 and a half months later, awareness levels had dropped back to 50%. Of those who had seen the episode and were aware of EC, 20% volunteered that they had learned about it from ER. Given the number of viewers for that episode, that is the equivalent of 5-6 million people nationwide who learned about EC from the show.
A second experiment was conducted in conjunction with an episode in which nurse Carol Hathaway sees a teenage patient who is diagnosed with cervical cancer (air date: February 24 2000). In a 1-minute vignette, nurse Hathaway discusses the sexually transmitted disease human papilloma virus (HPV) and explains its link to cervical cancer. The proportion of viewers who said they had heard of HPV nearly doubled in the week after the episode aired, from 24% to 47% of regular viewers. The proportion who could correctly define HPV and who were aware of its link to cervical cancer tripled. 32% of those who had watched the episode and had heard of HPV volunteered that they had learned about it from ER. However, the increased level of awareness was not sustained over time.
A second experiment was conducted in conjunction with an episode in which nurse Carol Hathaway sees a teenage patient who is diagnosed with cervical cancer (air date: February 24 2000). In a 1-minute vignette, nurse Hathaway discusses the sexually transmitted disease human papilloma virus (HPV) and explains its link to cervical cancer. The proportion of viewers who said they had heard of HPV nearly doubled in the week after the episode aired, from 24% to 47% of regular viewers. The proportion who could correctly define HPV and who were aware of its link to cervical cancer tripled. 32% of those who had watched the episode and had heard of HPV volunteered that they had learned about it from ER. However, the increased level of awareness was not sustained over time.
Practices
Based on both surveys, a third of viewers said that they had received information from ER that helped them make choices about their own or their family's health care. About 1 in 5 said they had gone to other sources to find additional information about a health issue because of something they saw on ER.
Increased Discussion of Development Issues
Figures from both surveys indicate that 51% of viewers said they talked with family and friends about the health issues that were addressed on the show. One in 7 viewers (14%) said they had contacted a doctor or other health care provider about a health problem because of something they saw on ER. In a separate survey of physicians conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in 2001, 1 in 5 doctors said they are consulted either "very" or "somewhat" often by patients wanting to talk about specific diseases or treatments they heard about on entertainment shows like ER.
Access
In an early stage of this evaluation (survey dates: March-June 1997), 34 million people watched the single episode being studied (air date: April 10 1997).
Source
Survey of ER viewers - KFF Summary of Results (April 1997); and "The Impact of TV's Health Content: A Case Study of ER Viewers" [PDF], KFF Survey Snapshot, June 2002; and "Communicating Health Information Through the Entertainment Media," by Mollyann Brodie, Ursual Foehr, Vicky Rideout, Neal Baer, Carolyn Miller, Rebecca Flournoy, and Drew Altman, Health Affairs, January/February 2001, Volume 20, No. 1.
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