East Los High:Transmedia edutainment to promote the sexual and reproductive health of young Latina/o Americans

H. Wang and A. Singhal

American Journal of Public Health, 2016, vol. 106, issue 6, 1002-1010

Abstract: Latina/o Americans are at high risk for sexually transmitted infections and adolescent pregnancies. Needed urgently are innovative health promotion approaches that are engaging and culturally sensitive. East Los High is a transmedia edutainment program aimed at young Latina/o Americans. It embeds educational messages in entertainment narratives across digital platforms to promote sexual and reproductive health. We employed online analytics tracking (2013-2014), an online viewer survey (2013), and a laboratory experiment (El Paso, TX, 2014) for season 1 program evaluation. We found that East Los High had a wide audience reach, strong viewer engagement, and a positive cognitive, emotional, and social impact on sexual and reproductive health communication and education. Culturally sensitive transmedia edutainment programs are a promising health promotion strategy for minority populations and warrant further investigation.

Keywords: American; health promotion; human; human experiment; narrative; program evaluation; reproductive health; season; adolescent; adolescent pregnancy; cultural competence; education; ethnic group; female; health promotion; Hispanic; interpersonal communication; multimedia; pregnancy; prevention and control; psychology; reproductive health; sexual behavior; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; social change; United States, Adolescent; Communication; Cultural Competency; Ethnic Groups; Female; Health Promotion; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Multimedia; Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Adolescence; Program Evaluation; Reproductive Health; Sexual Behavior; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Social Change; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2016.303072_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303072

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