From television to Twitter:
The confluence of media and health
February 3, 2023
Beth Hoffman, PhD, MPH provides recommendations for leveraging media to improve population health.
In doing so, she presents findings and discusses her recent research examining the influence of television on health promotion and behavior and the use of "edutainment" for teaching health sciences students.
“Edutainment” is a combination of entertainment with education. The goal is to instruct the audience by embedding lessons in various forms of entertainment such as computer and video games, television programs, or multimedia software.
Beth Hoffman, PhD, MPH
Postdoctoral Associate
Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health
Hoffman’s primary area of interest lies in examining the influence of television on education and health promotion, and developing projects that utilize this powerful tool to further public health. Her dissertation examined the influence of television storylines depicting vaping lung injury on viewer’s perceptions and knowledge about e-cigarette products, and the potential for using these storylines as part of school-based intervention programs.