Television entertainment and health education for children in Israel

Describes initial effects of 30 short health education episodes for television on health knowledge and behavior of seven-to-eight year old Israeli children. The research population consisted of a random sample of 300 Israeli children who have cable television at home. A telephone survey was conducted three months after the items were broadcast on the most popular children's channel on television in Israel. Of the sample children 95 per cent watched the Children's Channel, and 95 per cent of these children were familiar with the main characters of the series. The findings indicate that by using television prime-time it was possible to expose a majority of children to health messages and increase health knowledge and reported positive behavior. In addition, it is proposed to integrate such a program with school health education that incorporates similar health messages for children.