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16 Target Audience Researeh /e tJee hullmark of ar7qA;rr t17Qr pllows rwwers to regisfer th,•rr ]' I prograrorqi+tg produt ed h~ the Childre'» s personal opiniun oJ presgranl rnatereah. thec 4, 7fleY wloe II <erl, ehe le. CrfOlur e n1 p neq)~~r fePN alf pPpl o} aweprlP se ;er» eA1 /erotlUe Pel /e u the Plehhe breepde a%lneg wm~% Jeer Qded7 , &rp p r;Pp• he•QI!h ACriC•e eeR Qq Qerel/fner of /eoh'ul;ul C'T lVre-warehrr• +eade thr h0roJ a-: rli•etranie rich.'e'rA .

A Maj or Ne w 7,V ,E`xperimen t in Health Education "it is in the interest o1 our intire cnuntrr tn ednrote and encourage each of our citi:errs to dcrelop sensihlc health practices. )'et n•e hare gir•en remarkablr little attention to the health education of our people. "Most of our current efforts in this area are /roFmented and haplta:aid-a public serr'ice adt•ertisemeru one weeR, a neuspaper article another, aMort lecture nrnv and then /rom the doctor. "There is no natinnal insrrtcmcnt. no central force to stimulate and coordinate a comnrebensn•e health education program." These were among the key obwrvatiotn in the President's message to Congress in 1971 which called for comprehensive health edecation efforts tot the countr). While the pressure for funding large scale eHorts in this area continues, a recent rAport b) the Presidential committee on health education noted that of the $75 billion spent annually for medical, hospital and health care, about 4211,1 was spent for treatment after illness occurs. with onh about 41~i allocated for research and the remainder devoted to prevention of illness and health education, with health education re- ceiving the short end The same eommittre also noted that the vast majorit% of pcoplc-R8 ~( in one survev--look to thetr physicians or TV commercials for informa- tion about health. "1'et physicians are often too busy to do an eflecti, e job. and tdo many 'i \' message, are primarily concerned with product promotion rather than with true consumer health educ•atiorn." the committee observed. Secau,e television has become perhaps ahc nation's most potent communication and edu- cation tool, a concerted effort to emplo) its formidable strength in a mas public experiment in health edu:ation secros overdue. This booklet describes just such an attempt now being undertaken by the Children's `felc- vision Workshop.

A Sesame Street-forAdults' During the 1974•7{ season. the 250 stations of the Public Broadcastinp Service will teles•ise a major ncw wrekh serics for ~iew-inF in piimc• time evvninF hou:s. It will be aimed at adults and dcsiened to help impro.e their ph)sical and meotal health and that of their children. Thr.\'cw YorA Times, in a front page headline announcing the scri.>, called it a"5e,amr Strcer for adults." an apt (Jcscription since its creators - the Children's lelevi.ion \1'orkshop ( CTN' )- earlier pioneered in producing highly popular and edu:ationalh ellecti%e tcle.rsion for the ~ oun¢. The new serics of 26 hour-long programs is probabl, % the most ambitious attempt ever made to use television on a regular basis to com•e) health information. While neither title nor format have been dc- cided, the program will bc as unlike any prc- viou• T\ health presentation a. Sc%anrr Srrrer and TAe l;lr•crrir Onapar}-the Nbrkchop: two prize-Ninning ehildren'• programs-arc unlike am pre\ ious form of educational programming. In common with the W'orkshop's other suc- cessful TV ventures, the new series will be the result of exhaustive pre-broadcact research. And it will be accompanied by extensive promotion ar•,d followup efforts to reinforce each program's message and to bring the viewer in contact with local health institutions. The ingredients of extensive research, creati-. e production and systematic information and fol- lowup activities comprise a combination that mjght succeed to a prcater extent than pre.•ioush tribd mass media experiments in the health field. While designed for family audiences, the series will consider the informational need, of adults. with the primaq target audience of the program being the young parents who play major roics in influencing the health habits of thcir immediate families. The health problems of the poor Will be of particular concern to the series' producers, because good health and adequate health care are especial:)- diHicult to achieve in lo%s• inconte cdmmunities. The series will emplo~\ a variety of proven 2

Underwritirag television techniques to entertain while at the same time; conveying helpful and needed infdr- mation. This u•ill hopefull%motivate viewers to take ac!iobr in their own best interests. The overall objective of the series, then. ic to encourage people to raise the level of thefr own heah;r and that of their famih•. Health is closeiv related to lifestyle: the individual has much greater power than most people realite to maintain good health and to prevent illnov.. As one doctor told the Workshop hcahh staff reccntlv. "It's what you do. hour by bour and day b}~ da}. that larg^ly determine% whether you get 3ick, what you get sick with, and perh'aps when yotr die." Selection of subject material for the series ha~s been underwav for a Yeat and a half. Afore than 300 doctors and health experts participated with the Workshop in this process. which is described in the followine paces. The development of a major television secies on a rrnbject as complex as health is costly and time oonsumiog. Televiaion itself is an expensive ptedium, although with its large potential audi- t:noe, the oost of programming on a per viewer basis ean' be miniscule. An example ia Sedpn+e Street which is produced at an annual cost of more tbaa $4 million, but because of its wast audience costs lers than one cent per viewer, per episode. The three-year budget for the health sePies. covering the more than two years of developrtient and the actual broadtxtst rxason, is $7 mMoa. Tfte bulk of initial fttrtding has come from these taaderariters:  Corporation for Publfo Broadcasting • The Robert Wnod Johnson Foundadon • AetaaLife & Casuahy Company • Exxon Corporatfon • ne Edna MeConaell C7ark FouadatioA • Tbe Commonwealth Ftmd •'Ibe John and MarY R. Markle Foundation • van Ameriogen Fotrndation • Ittleson Family Fotmdatfron • The Grant Foundation Additional sttpport to fknance producdon, oommtrttity otmeach projocts and specialized re- aearcb relatod to the series, is now betag seugln.

Variety of Communications Techniques, illustrated here in scenes from test productions, will be employed in the neu• CTW health series. A variet}l magazine format will probably be selected. aftording the widest possible latitude to producers in presenting major health subjects in the most compelling and entertaining manner. At times a single topic may be treated on one show in several dif- ferent ways-via drama, music, dance, satire or even animation. The producers call thi% a"cluster efieci and the aim is to reinforce the overall impact of key health messages. Song. in thic ca%ra ballad on h,rpertension fa condirimr,whic/r a(ircrs a disproportionorr nunr ber a/ blacAs in the U.5.1. is pertorrned by Linda Hopkinc. Lyrics strrss importarree nJ blood pressure c/Rrck t which can idenri f y on easkk treated prohfent. Drama, in the /arm o/ rit/rrr ch,xt rnae•act plm:t nr continuing.%crial~, nrqrahohrancrnptrit Thi.% ii a brrt•J dramafic.i kerch ht• retrran T N plai-wriglu Tor! Afvwl vn thr problrrru /accd h)'an alcoholic mrd hij, w•iJr.

Satire and humor ar? also approaches liAeb- to Toothbrush Hall ol Fame (which houlPs tlre be used to trea: toptc i valt as dental 1»•g,ene- brushes o/ surh notables as Secretariat and Here Comedians Rnh and RayspooJ T V spnrts geethuren t mid deals with plaque, the film.y interviea•s with a sketch staged in a mythical deposit that collects on all teeth. Ntusic and Dance arr elementslhat rated high with test audi- ences. Here a "WalA- ing Song" makes the case Jor exerrise in maintaining good health. i *,tf

About the Creator The Childjen's Television R'orkshop, creators of public teEevision's new series on health for adult., is a non-profit research and production center founded in 1969 to experiment in the ed- ucational uses of television and allied tommuni- cations media. From thic experimental lahoratory came a program which is acknowledged as a major phenomenon in telc.lsion: Seramc Street. That series is sectr in the L'.S. he some nine million youngsters. and o.erseas in more than 40 coun- tries and tcrrnories by millions morc, either in its original English language version ot in special foreign IanFuaee editions created in Latin Amer- ica (in Spanish and Portuguc.c) and Germany. Though iis audience includes mam adults hc- cau%e of its, entertaining nature. SC%aurr Street w•at and is aimed at ptcschool children, designed to gi%c them some of the skills needed in school The success of the series. pro.en by extensiic efiecti%enes, studics. gave rise to a second pro• gram. The, Elecrrir Compaiy. which teaches reading skili> to grade school pupils. Seen b% some six million ehildren, about half of them in classrooms, it has had a marked effect in com•ev- inF some of the most hard-to-tcach reading skills. Both shows were developed and produced on a Workshop-decigned "model" that involves identification of subject matter most adaptahlc to television and testing of show material bcforc broadcast to ensure viewer appeal and educa• tional eficctivcncss. The same model rs now being follhwcd in thr de~'clopmcnt of the \~'orkthop's lawest cxpcri- ment, the health series. Pow•er of the individural to control his own health is greater tyarr he thirrk.i. AU he needi. in mor»• cace.t, Jt more in)urmation. As this aketch Jrum the Irralth..rriet te%t produrtion irnplic-t, the doctor ran't do erer,r•tlrijke and rr alh• dru.rn'r hat e tn. A hraldr e.rpcrt told CT N'; "IJyoe calr shuH• pcopir just one N•ordrwhile crrp to ta4c Jrw thcm crJr•rc. mayhr thc,r ran brlir, r a bit rrurre b+ thclutare."

PLANNING: Diagnosing a Nation's Health Problems For the Children's Television Workshop the process of crcatirg a new i,crics begins more than tNo years before broadcast date with the kind of research and devclopment morc rcadih asso- ciatcJ with the birth of sai:ntific products than with a popular entertainment vehicle. The process, painstaking and time consuming a. it is. haspro% ed highl.~ cflccti~e for the Nork- shop in its earlier attempts at educating via tele- vision. The decision to attempt a health series was made in earh 1972 when a small stall of pro- duc.rs and researchers beg:dn interniewinp, doc- tors and health experts irom all parts of the countr%. Their aim was to determine the most pressing health problems among various scg- mcnu of the population-los• and middle income families, urban and rural reiident. and minoritv group.-and to discover the extent tc which T\' might pla% a part in lessening some of the prob- lems. The Uotkshop statl inrcr%rcHcd some 170 medical and health professiona!> from 16 state> representing a•idcl~ %arying economic and cul- tural groups. These experts were Nirtuall% unan- imous in their be6ef that tclevision has an im- mense untapped potential not onl% lot pro%id- inC vital health information. but a:.n lot hclpint: people to make use of this information in rb:ir daily lives. Although there seemed to be general agree- ment a. to what the nation's major health proh• lems are, the experts warned that dc%eloping an e8ectke TV series about thent would he ex- tremeh ditlicult. The% pointed out that ju<t a, no two famibes have the same dail% ritual. n.ither do any two cultural groups assign the same values to work, play, food, exercisc, doctor% or hospitals-and health itsclf i, often definrJ di1- ferently from group to group. Stata• nceJ.. cultural traditions. superstitions and inprainrJ behavior patterns all pla% a part in what pcrpl: do. For this ~eason, the health professional% urged CTW' to explore the most crucial health proh- lems, not only with an eN c to com eying basic in- formation, bct also in tcrms of the van inr ani- tudcs, hahits, belief. or lack of knoa-lcJpe that

DocutrtetEten• coverage of new healrit vocations, Jocuses on Sherry Erzinger who, with nro rea, • sukh as tlais one on a Child Health A ssociate, will of college and ahree of speciati:ed medica/ trom be included in the weekh• series. This srorr• ing, now works as a paraprofessional among t 8 frequently lead people to ignore this information. The Workshop's producers probed the issues further during 1973 in a series of seminars which focused on certain crucial health topics. Among the primary areas of diacussion by these "task force" Froups were prenatal. infant and child care: adolescent hcalth problems; modi6• eation of personal habit. (smoking. drinking. drugs, overeating): access to the health carede• liver} system: family planning: chronic diseases: death and d}•ing: nutrition and m:ntal health. Each task force seminar included about 20 experts representing the medical, psychological and cultural aspects of the pertinent health sub- ject area. The CTN' producers.asked about: • the prevalence of the particular health prob- lem in society and the impact it has on the functioning of an individual or his fa:nih•; • the degree of public interot ir, tor ignorance of t the problem: • the extent to u•hich an individual can do some- thing about the problem; • the extent to which a doctor can he)p; • the potential for effective presentation of the problem and its treatment on TV; • the susceptibility to measurement of the pro- grams' impact on a viewer's knowledge, atti- tudes and. 8nally, actions. From the recommendations of task force par- ticipants, the staff began to designate specific goals and objectives for the series. The experts agreed that inadequate informa- tion is a primary cause of poor health in the L'.S Thev also said that an individual's failure to heed information available to him might be just as de- trimental to his health. Yet, the power of the individual to easc or forestall certain health problems-as well as his power to create or ex- aggerate them-is frequently far greater than he knows.

rnigranr Jan»lie.c in Colorado. A local doctor sa>•s she con handle 80% oj the problernc brought to his arrention, inchr<lingminorsurgicaf procedures. Some pointed examples were drawn by the health experts: • painful and costly dental problems are almost totally pre.entable, yet 20 million adult Americans have lost all their natural teeth. • risk factors in heart attacks can be greatly re- duced if people first know the risks and then act on them sensibly, yet nearly 700;000 peo• ple of all ages die each year of heart attack. • serious learning problems in many children can be avoided if they have some simple vision and hearing screening before they start school, yet probably fewer than one out of ten pre- schoolers are screened. • h.pertens'an, wnich may often lead to stroke, heart disease or kidney fnilure, afiects 23 mil- Gon persons. half of whom are unaware they have the condition. Yet the check for hyper- tension is quick. painless, available and inex- pensive. and the problem itself is usually con• trollable through proper diet and medication. • America's most widespread drug problem isn't marijuana or heroin but alcoholism. And most of the nine million alcoholics aren't derelicts but family members, male and female, with good jobs and comfortable homes. Yet mam victims or their families are unaware of the asailabilitp of free help and counselinF through a variety of public and prh ate organ- izations. The health experts participating in the N'ork- shop's seminars pointed to self-help or "peer intervention" groups for smokers and overweight people as often being more successful than any medical intervention. These examples underscored the point that health education depends not merely on the trmumission of informadion, but alsooer mr.rirar- ing indi.iduals to make use of the information in their daily fives. Health, many seem to feel, is something for doctors to worry about. Hfillions of people who ha%e their car checked regularl%