Television and beliefs about health care and medical treatment

A representative sample of London television viewers answered questions on their attitudes to the quality of medical care they might receive if hospitalized, on their beliefs about the scope for control over one’s health, on the Just World Scale, and on their experience of viewing each of three TV series dealing with health matters. One series is an anodyne soap opera, one a light-hearted talkshow, and the third is a powerful though cynical drama series. Viewing of the latter,The Nation’s Health, was negatively related to expectations of good treatment if hospitalized, a link that did not emerge with experience of the other two programs. Seen in greater detail, the ostensibly linear correlation appears more likely to be a U-shaped relationship with the heaviest viewers being resilient in confidence, unlike light viewers whose confidence may have been shaken enough to deter them from further viewing. The results are discussed as a parallel to the controversy between Gerbner et al. (1977) and Hirsch (1980).