PORTRAYAL OF DISEASES IN MEDICAL TV FICTION: THE CASE OF HOSPITAL CENTRAL (TELECINCO, 2000-

2012)

Beatriz González de Garay, Francisco Javier Frutos, Marta Cerezo, Irene del Arco

Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing MulticulturalitySalamanca, 3rd November 2016

Track 15: Communication, Education and Health Promotion

introduction

Hospital Central aired for twelve years in the prime time of Telecinco and it has become the Spanish longest series in its time slot in television history in Spain.

Spanish Collegial Medical Organization (2007)"should be more realistic -more elderly and fewer children and young people in hospitals, less sophisticated techniques, less miraculous recoveries, less experimental treatments...- ".

Theorical framework

Cultivation theory Framing theory Entertainment education Narrative persuasion Health communication

ObjectivesTo know what image offers Hospital Central of diseases and if these representations correspond to the statistical incidence data for the period and place studied

Hypothesis 1Diseases depicted in Spanish TV-series Hospital Central do not correspond to the statistical data for the period and place studied: Spain, 2000-2012.

Hypothesis

Hypothesis 2The profile of the characters who suffer diseases in Hospital Central does not correspond to the statistical data regarding age, gender, geographical origin, etc.

Sub-hypothesis 2.1The characters present hegemonic (most valuedsocially) characteristics in the broadcasting contextin terms of ethnicity, complexion, nationality, sexualorientation, etc.

Methodology

Content analysis (Krippendorff, 1990; Igartua y Humanes, 2004)

Sample:●3 of the 20 seasons randomly selected (43 episodes)●Episodic characters (256 characters) The margin of error obtained for the sample was: 5,7%

Inter-rater reliability 14% of the contents was selected (6 episodes)

●Age (0.853)

●Complexion (0,702)

●Ethnicity (1)

●Sex (1)

● Socioeconomic status (0,241)

● Cultural level (0,109)

● Disease (0,707)

● Prognosis (0,703)

Cohen’s Kappa coefficient:● Sexual orientation

(0,566)

● Nationality (1)

● Occupation (0,621)

Results

INE (Hospital Morbidity Survey, 2013)

Age

Characters by age (%)

60 + 20.680.211

40-59 5.528.938

20-39 2.821.174

1

2

3

2

Complexion

Characters by complexion (%)

Above 40 years

Children, adolescents and young adults (up to 39 years)

Ethnicity

Characters by ethnicity (%)

Caucasian and non-Caucasians characters usually represent injuries, wounds, poisoning, external factors, falls and accidents. However, other diseases portrayed differ between Caucasians and Non-Caucasians

Sex

INE

Diseases of the circulatory systemNeoplasmsDiseases of the respiratory systemDiseases of the digestive systemMental and behavioural disordersFalls, hits and other accidentsInjury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes

SexMale characters

Falls, hits and other accidentsInjury, poisoning and certain other consequences of

external causesDiseases of the circulatory system

External causes of mortality and morbidityDiseases of the respiratory system

NeoplasmsMental and behavioural disorders

Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissueCongenital malformations, deformatios

Symphtoms, digns and abdominal clinical findingsSide effects

HOSPITAL CENTRALResources to capture

the attention and mantain the dramatic

tension

INE

Diseases of the circulatory systemNeoplasmsInjury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causesPregnancy, childbirth and the puerperiumDiseases of the respiratory systemDiseases of the digestive system

Falls, hits and other accidentsInjury, poisoning and certain other consequences of

external causesExternal causes of mortality and morbidityPregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium

SexFemale characters

HOSPITAL CENTRAL

INE11,7 % of foreign

population in Spain

NationalityH C

8,2 % of non-spanish episodic

characters

In all cases Romanian characters appear representing either “Diseases of pregnancy,

childbirth and the puerperium” or “Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period”

The proportion of foreigners who suffer “Certain infectious and parasitic diseases” is slightly higher

than the proportion of Spaniards

DiseaseHospital Central INE

Prognosis

Characters by prognosis (%)

Main causes

of death

INE

● Tumors (24,8%)● Diseases of the circulatory system (21,6%)● Diseases of the respiratory system (18%)

● Fall, hits and other accidents (32,6%)● Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (22,2%)● Neoplasms (13%)● External causes of morbidity and mortality (11,1%)● Diseases of the circulatory system (8,3%)

Hospital Central

Conclusions

H1Diseases depicted in Spanish TV-series Hospital Central do not correspond to the statistical data for the period and place studied: Spain, 2000-2012.

Partially corroboratedsince the diseases represented in Hospital Central don’t fully correspond to the statistical incidence data; while it is true that some of them show similarities between reality and representation

Injury, poisoningFall, hitsDeaths

Mental and behavioural disorders

H2The profile of the characters who suffer diseases in Hospital Central does not correspond to the statistical data regarding age, gender, geographical origin, etc.

Corroboratedbecause although some data correspond to the statistical data, in most cases they do not

CorroboratedHospital Central shows characters that have mostly social hegemonic characteristics within the broadcasting context: Caucasian ethnicity, ectomorph complexion, male sex and Spanish nationality.

H2.1The characters present hegemonic (most valued socially) characteristics in the broadcasting context in terms of ethnicity, complexion, nationality, sexual orientation, etc.

Profile of patient that responds to hegemonic groups

Senior ages(suffer more diseases)

Thank you very much!

Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing MulticulturalitySalamanca, 3rd November 2016

Track 15: Communication, Education and Health Promotion