Stress management delivered over public television: Steps toward promoting community mental health

This study evaluated the efficacy of television as a teaching and skills-developing medium in the area of health promotion. Experimental subjects viewed a five-part stress management series aired on public television. Control subjects were not told about the series. All subjects completed a stress questionnaire battery before and after the televised series and again at a six-week follow-up. The results indicated that experimental subjects learned about stress and stress management from the program. Those experimental subjects who watched four or five segments of the series tended to score higher on stress knowledge than did subjects who viewed fewer than three segments. No significant differences were found between experimental and control subjects on other self-report measures. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed.