You in Mind: a preventive mental health television series

This study of BBC Television's 'You in Mind' series provides preliminary evidence for the benefits of a mass media approach to preventive mental health. The series was seen by a large national audience who appraised it positively. It had a greater impact in the area of understanding problems as opposed to seeing what to do about them, and a greater impact on the viewer's perceptions of the problems of people the viewers knew, as opposed to the problems of the viewers themselves. Measures of intentions to change behaviour, even when corrected for over-reporting, suggest that a significant minority of the audience had changed or intended to change their behaviour as a result of the series. However, no specific pre-post changes in coping or help-seeking were found. These findings are discussed in terms of the potential and limitations of the mass media for mental health promotion.