Portrayal of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Popular Films

Area of Science:

• Medical communication
• Film studies
• Public health

Background:

• Stigma surrounding sexually transmitted infections (STIs) negatively impacts patient-provider relationships and service utilization.
• Media portrayals can influence public perception of STIs, either reducing or perpetuating stigma.
• Understanding media's role is crucial for healthcare providers due to high STI prevalence and media consumption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of popular films depicting STIs.
• To analyze the accuracy of STI portrayal in films regarding symptoms, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment.

Main Methods:

• Scoping review of full-length English-language narrative films featuring characters with STIs.
• Descriptive statistics used to assess the accuracy of depicted clinical variables.

Main Results:

• Analysis included 128 characters from 77 films; HIV was the most common STI depicted.
• Overall accuracy for STI symptoms, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment was 87.4%.
• Transmission was the most frequently depicted variable (57.8%), while all four variables were rarely shown simultaneously (3.1%).

Conclusions:

• Films generally portray STI clinical variables accurately, but depiction rates vary.
• Death is a common outcome in film portrayals of STIs, especially HIV.
• Insights from film portrayals can help clinicians address patient misconceptions about STIs.