Monica Mundy APHA Award Student Poster Showcase
Monica Warren Mundy, a recent MPH graduate, did a poster presentation today at APHA of the work she did for her culminating experience project. Her poster was judged as part of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Section’s “Award Student Poster Showcase”. She won the award in the “Other Drug” category and will be participating in the ATOD section Awards Ceremony tomorrow night here at the APHA Annual Meeting. We are very proud of Monica! This was an exciting project and she worked really hard on it!
Monica Mundy, MPH, Phyllis A. Bryden, DrPH, MSPH, CPH, RN and Michelyn W. Bhandari, DrPH, MPH,CPH
Background: Substance use is an issue among US youth. One television network focuses on teen and young adult viewers with several primetime lineup shows derived from popular teen novels and comic books. A content analysis of six of the network's 2009/2010 primetime shows was conducted to describe frequency and portrayal of substance use. Methods: A coding manual was developed containing variable definitions, coding sheets for each episode observed, and a list of main characters. DVDs were analyzed for the entire 2009/2010 season of six shows. Results: One thousand incidents were observed. Use/mention of alcohol occurred most frequently (738/1000, 73.8 %), then drugs (225/1000, 22.5%), and tobacco (7/1000,0.7%). The average number of incidents per episode was 7.6. The majority of alcohol incidents were visual (447/738, 60.6%), while the majority of drug incidents were verbal (200/255, 78.4%). Most alcohol incidents showed no consequences for substance use (647/738, 87.7%) while most drug incidents implied consequences for use (153/255, 60%). Conclusion: Use/mention of alcohol and drugs is excessive on this network's primetime programs. This is a concern not only for teens, but for the general viewing audience. The message to youth may be that there are no consequences associated with alcohol use/abuse. Due to advocacy group efforts and policy change, there was minimal tobacco use/mention on the observed shows. The same efforts need to be applied to alcohol and drugs portrayed in television programs.
Published on November 02, 2011