The use of television series in health education.

This paper reviews evidence of the impact which television generally, and drama series in particular, can have on health beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. It describes how a television series, The Family House, was planned in Egypt to disseminate key health messages in an entertaining context. As only a very small number of television series were specifically developed to address health issues, and even fewer were evaluated, this paper presents important new data derived from focus group discussions and survey interviews which help in understanding the potential television series can have for health education. Finally, the paper presents data on the cost-effectiveness of The Family House series.