East Los High: Transmedia Edutainment to Promote the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Latina/o Americans

Abstract

1,2 By 2020, as per Census projections, 25% of American teens will be Latina/o. 3These changing demographics hold significant implications for public health. Although risky sexual behaviors among American youth have declined since 1990, Latina/o youth have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies than other racial/ethnic groups. [4][5][6] One in 3 Latina teens become pregnant before the age of 20, 1.5 times the national average. 3 This is not surprising as only about half of sexually active Latina/o teens reported using a condom during their last intercourse, and only 1 in 7 used birth control pills or other contraceptives. 7 Latina teen mothers bear the greatest burden of higher order and rapid repeat pregnancies. Edutainment programs are also grounded in social cognitive theory, an agentic framework of psychosocial change with a dual path of influence: direct exposure to media models and indirect social learning through interpersonal discussions. 27 The transportation-imagery model posits that narratives can be highly immersive, prompting 6 the audience to pay attention, generate mental imagery of a prospective potentiality, and transport them into a world of different time and space. 28 In addition, narratives resonate particularly well with the audience when they perceive the stories to be realistic and can identify with the characters based on existing similarities or desirable attributes. 26,29,30 Further, theories of culture-centric health promotion emphasize that narratives built with familiar cultural markers are especially effective when targeting minority populations. 12,31Recent meta-analyses have demonstrated the advantages of using narratives in health interventions: Narratives have a sizable significant impact on combined changes in attitudes, intention, and behavior, even if they have a relatively small effect size in individual outcomes. Narratives are powerful interventional tools for eliciting affective audience response; and evidence suggests that those delivered through audio and video are more effective than print. [32][33][34] Moreover, empirical studies show supporting evidence of narrative-based interventions for racial/ethnic minority groups to reduce disparities. 35-37Narrative persuasion theories guided the ELH program development (in terms of character building and content production) and its program evaluation (in terms of choosing key measures and hypotheses). ELH PROGRAM DEVELOPMENTAt least 3 unique aspects of ELH set it apart from popular series such as Degrassi completed the study. They were randomly assigned to 1 of the following conditions. Condition 1 (n=30) was a true control group without any intervention. Condition 2 (n=21) was a non-dramatic text version of ELH presented as a newspaper story.Condition 3 (n=21) was a dramatic text version, presented as an ELH script. Condition 4 (n=32) was an online drama, presented as an abbreviated version of ELH Hulu series.Condition 5 (n=32) was a transmedia version, presented as the online dra...

Barriers and Facilitators to Safe Food Handling among Consumers: A Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Research Studies

“…One example is “photonovella”, a text- and visual-based storytelling format that has been shown in recent studies to positively affect consumers’ food safety behaviours [35,64]. More comprehensive approaches that use radio, television, or multi-platform programs to promote behaviour change through fictional melodramatic narratives, known as entertainment–education or “edutainment” programs, have been effectively used in many different global settings to address various health behaviours [65], and could have potential applications to the area of consumer food safety. Healthcare professionals (e.g.…”

New digital media interventions for sexual health promotion among young people: a systematic review

“…There was substantial variability among the studies in relation to setting, sexual preferences, recruitment methods and outcomes measured. Although 16 of 25 studies recruited subjects either from an education setting (n = 7; 7,[11][12][13][14][15][16] e.g. high schools, middle schools and universities) or a health setting (n = 9; [3][4][5]8,[17][18][19][20][21] including sexual health clinics and hospitals), the remaining nine studies were defined by the recruitment method rather than a particular physical setting.…”

“…These nine studies recruited participants directly online through new digital media, such as Facebook or location-based social mobile applications. 4,[8][9][10]13,[22][23][24][25][26] Many of the studies used multiple New digital media and sexual health Sexual Health methods of recruitment, with some (6/25) 4,5,9,12,14,15 extending the reach of recruitment through the use of shopping mall and community notice boards, and through collaboration with community-based organisations. 5,6,15 One study recruited participants purposively from a larger related study.…”

“…3,4,7,8,12,17,20,21,27 One intervention was delivered to a Latino/Hispanic population. 13 The three studies conducted in low-to middle-income countries were based in Chile, Uganda and Thailand. 11,15,20 Sexual identity and preference were also used as a basis for study, with seven interventions focusing on members of the men who have sex with men (MSM) and wider lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.…”

“…4,[8][9][10]12,19,20,24 Women were the sole focus of five studies, 3,5,12,17,21 and women were the predominant participants in 11 of the 25 studies. 3,5,12,13,15,17,18,21,[25][26][27] In two studies, the prioritisation of youth focused on the related issue of substance abuse disorders. 7,9 Intervention design Although participants' age ranged from 12 to >50 years, most participants were in the range 15-24 years (n = 17 studies).…”