Characterizing the Influence of Television Health Entertainment Narratives in Lay Populations: A Scoping Review

To conduct a scoping review of published literature examining the influence of health storylines from fictional television programs on viewers.

We performed literature searches in Medline, PsycINFO, and Mass Media Complete in October 2021, and examined bibliographies of included articles and conducted forward searching using Web of Science with included articles.

Selected studies were required to be original research published in English, involve exposure to fictional television programming by individuals not in the medical field, and assess associations between exposure and health-related outcomes.

Article screening and data abstraction were performed by two independent researchers using DistillerSR (Cohen's κ range: .73-1.00).

We analyzed and qualitatively described the data using methods of scoping reviews described by PRISMA-ScR.

Of 5,537 unique records identified, 165 met inclusion criteria. The most frequently studied program was ER (n = 22, 13.3%). Most studies had adult participants (n = 116, 70.3%) and used quantitative methods (n = 136, 82.4%). The most frequently examined health topics were sexual behavior (n = 28, 17.0%) and mental health (n = 28, 17.0%). Exposure had a positive influence on viewers' health-related outcomes in 28.5% (n = 47) of studies.

Health storylines on fictional television influence viewers. Future research could address gaps identified in this review to further elucidate the influence of this programming on health promotion and disease prevention.