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While there has been a marked increase in measurement and scholarship surrounding social norms in recent years, there is little evidence related to social norms measurement in the context of health campaigns utilizing entertainment-education. Entertainment-education goals and objectives have shifted over time to include social norms and an update is needed to merge contemporary practice with the most recent measures from the literature. The aim of the present study was to analyze commonly used quantitative measures and their properties for social norms and entertainment-education, specifically on the topic of family planning, to bolster ongoing research and practice efforts by validating items for social norms measurement in entertainment-education programs. The study used data from a survey conducted with 438 married women aged 19–34 in the Central Province of Zambia in 2019 who were exposed to the entertainment-education initiative Kwishilya (Over the Horizon), a Bemba-language, 156-episode radio program designed to shift social norms on family planning. Multiple items were included to measure descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and outcome expectations. Exploratory factor analysis and estimates of scale reliability were conducted to understand the properties and structure of the social norms items. Results showed a five-factor solution best fit the data, which accounted for 45.7% of the variance, exhibited fair reliability, and loaded largely as expected. This study provides a useful tool for practitioners and scholars to use globally to measure important social norms constructs in entertainment-education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, Hispanic children experience dramatically different educational outcomes compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Educational disparities begin at the earliest phases of formal education; left unaddressed, challenges can persist. To address this, Univision, the most-watched Spanish-language network in the United States, launched Camino al Éxito (Road to Success), a multimedia prosocial storytelling campaign designed to reach parents with helpful messages about key risk transitions through the K-12 education life cycle. Following narrative engagement theory, this study sought to understand the role of narrative-based information utilized in this entertainment-based prosocial campaign by examining U.S. Hispanic parents' (N = 153) responses to a short TV documentary and a printed campaign resource document. Those exposed to the documentary showed significantly higher posttest mean levels of knowledge than the print condition. Results suggest that documentary storytelling can be effectively employed in prosocial entertainment media campaigns for social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sabido Methodology (TSM) is recognised as a discrete methodology of entertainment-education (EE). EE programmes are intentionally designed to entertain and educate through the weaving in of important health and social messaging into powerful storytelling. Sabido-style dramas are highly effective in promoting social and behaviour change around a myriad of issues and its usefulness has been widely documented in long-running serial dramas on traditional media. There is little documentation, however, of how TSM could be applied to newer media, such as social media (SM). Girlsplained was created with the aim of addressing the sexual health of young Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women in the United Kingdom. Key lessons from the effort can be used to build a proposed framework for adapting TSM to SM, i.e., The Sabido Methodology for Social Media (TSM4SM). We hypothesise 4 key features of TSM4SM should include: 1) the major tenets of TSM in a web-based drama with shorter story arcs; 2) the use of humour as per the Laugh Model framework to create a fourth character; 3) the use of transmedia to create a SM feed following the life of the transitional character based on TSM principles; and 4) a target audience of younger people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 created a substantial set of challenges for health communication practitioners in the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating entertainment-education (EE) campaigns. EE is a theory and evidence-based communication strategy that employs entertainment media for educational messaging. Here, we briefly review EE campaigns in response to previous health emergencies and present three cases of EE responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from leading global organizations (PCI Media, BBC Media Action, and Sesame Workshop). Responses ranged from adaptation and re-distribution of existing content to creating new content under social-distancing restrictions and utilizing transmedia. These cases demonstrate that EE initiatives responding to future pandemics may be well served by starting with existing infrastructure to quickly build capacity, support, and trust; working with partners to tailor programs to the local context; and continuing to focus on good storytelling while simultaneously considering evolving media formats and theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative persuasion and social norms are part of the most recent theorizing behind the health communication strategy known as entertainment-education. There is little research, however, that compares these theoretical constructs from Mozambique, a setting that has not been researched to the same extent as other EE practice locations. This study uses mixed methods data from the midline evaluation of Ouro Negro (English translation: Black Gold), an EE radio program for individual health and social change in Mozambique to answer two research questions: what is the relationship between exposure to Ouro Negro and narrative persuasion?, and what is the relationship between narrative persuasion with Ouro Negro and social norms? Quantitative results related to the first question indicated that exposure significantly predicted three narrative persuasion constructs in multivariate regression models, results confirmed by a storytelling activity in focus groups. Quantitative results for the second question, which utilized propensity score matching, were not significant, and findings from a qualitative 2 × 2 table activity confirmed that behaviors were not normative in the directions promoted by the radio drama. Implications and recommendations for future entertainment-education research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social impact entertainment programming has roots in the development communication strategy known as entertainment-education. Social impact entertainment programming has gained traction in recent years in the United States, with media studios and corporations now operating social impact divisions and academic centres studying the effects of mass media projects designed to inspire change. There is a gap in the literature, however, of formative research conducted to describe the development and design of these programmes. This gap contributes to a lack of information not only to replicate this work, but also a weakness in understanding underlying theoretical mechanisms required to foster positive change across emerging social and behaviour change communication strategies. This article analyses qualitative interviews to understand the creation of a social impact entertainment programme on healthy ageing for Hispanics on Univision, the U.S.-based Spanish-language network. Healthy ageing cuts across the sustainable development goals and is a health priority for diverse, global populations as more people are living longer. The study concludes that media professionals were compelled by higher-value inclinations; the process of creating tailored healthy ageing content included strategy and research integration; and materials included television, digital, social media, and community events. Implications for development communication practitioners and scholars are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, unaccompanied minors have been journeying to the United States (U.S.)-Mexico border in great numbers in order to escape violence, poverty and exploitation in their home countries. Yet, unaccompanied children attempting to cross the United States border face treatment at the hands of government representatives which violates their inherent rights as children. The result is a human rights crisis that has severe health consequences for the children. Their rights as children are clearly delineated in various, international human rights documents which merit increased understanding of and recognition by the U.S. government. This paper calls for the improvement of policies and procedures for addressing the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children; it provides specific, rights-based recommendations which work together to safeguard the rights of the child at the U.S. southwestern border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reach local fishing communities in Belize with important messages about the environment, overfishing, stocks control and their own rights and responsibilities, PCI Media and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) developed a multi-stranded Social Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) strategy. This integrated Entertainment-Education (E-E) approach comes in the form of a radio drama serial, with accompanying phone-in shows, theatre productions and community mobilisation activities rounding out the holistic approach. This paper analyses the project's success and shortcomings, and discusses ways in which the underlying principles can be modified for use in different scenarios in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]