Medical drama influencing thinking about the dangers of vaping, new Twitter

After three popular primetime medical dramas included storylines about the health hazards of e-cigarette use, hundreds of people took to Twitter to comment – ​​including some who said they planned to quit smoking because of what they saw on the show. A new analysis led by University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health scientists and published in Journal of Health Communication Check out the tweets for insight into using television shows to share public health messages.

Following January 2020 episodes of New Amsterdam, Chicago Med, and Grey’s Anatomy which each included plots involving teens with vaping-related lung injuries, also known as EVALI, at least 641 tweets commenting on events and e-cigarettes. Nearly half of the tweets commented on the realism of the storyline and 23.1% expressed enjoyment of the storyline, although a sizeable minority commented that the show was unrealistic in part because it did not involve e-cigarettes containing cannabis oil. About 12% of the tweets expressed knowledge of vaping and 4.4% mentioned behavior, including intentions to stop vaping.

“Given the rapid increase in e-cigarette use among US youth, it is imperative that public health professionals develop ways to effectively communicate the dangers of vaping to young people,” said lead author Beth Hoffman, Ph.D., MPH, postdoctoral researcher. in the Pitt Department of Behavioral Health and Public Health. “Our analysis suggests that primetime television may be a powerful way to positively shape viewer knowledge about the harms associated with e-cigarette use.”