Year: 2019
Type: report
Study designs: Randomized Controlled Trial, Clinical Trial
Abstract: We test the effectiveness of an entertainment education TV series, MTV Shuga, aimed at providing information and changing attitudes and behaviors related to HIV/AIDS.Using a simple model we show that "edutainment" can work through an individual or a social channel.We conducted a randomized controlled trial in urban Nigeria where young viewers were exposed to MTV Shuga or to a placebo TV series.Among those exposed to MTV Shuga, we created additional variation in the social messages they received and in the people with whom they watched the show.We find significant improvements in knowledge and attitudes towards HIV and risky sexual behavior.Treated subjects are twice as likely to get tested for HIV eight months after the intervention.We also find reductions in STDs among women.These effects are stronger for viewers who report being more involved with the narrative, consistent with the psychological underpinnings of edutainment.Our experimental manipulations of the social norm component did not produce significantly different results from the main treatment.The individual effect of edutainment thus seems to have prevailed in the context of our study.
DOI: 10.3386/w26096
Institutions: University of Southern California, National Bureau of Economic Research, World Bank, University of Bonn, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Oslo, Trinity College Dublin, University of California San Diego, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bocconi University, University of Amsterdam
Language: English
Topic: Media Influence and Health
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2963946376