Mass Media and Health: Examining Media Impact on Individuals and the Health Environment

Mass Media and Health examines media health influences along three dimensions – the effects of media on health (individual vs public health); the intentionality of these effects; and whether the media effects are positive or negative. Author Kim Walsh-Childers synthesizes the growing body of research on media and health, helping readers to understand how mass media influence health beliefs and behaviors at the individual level, as well as affect public health policy and the environment in which individuals make health-related choices.

In addition to addressing various unintended health effects of mass media, this text examines the effects media can have at the public health level through such strategies as news framing and advocacy campaigns. Readers will see how media can influence policy and have dramatic impacts on the health environments in which individuals operate.

Mass Media and Health will serve as primary reading for courses examining the broader view of mass media and health impacts, as well as a supplement for courses on health communication, public health campaigns, health journalism, and media effects. The book will be written with diverse student disciplines in mind, neither burdened with jargon or written too simplistically.