title: Setting the Stage for Social Change: Using Live Theater to Dispel Myths About Intimate Partner Violence.
abstract: Research has demonstrated the ability of fictional narratives to educate about social and health issues. Although some entertainment-education efforts have used live theater as a mechanism for social change, very few use social science methods to demonstrate exposure effects. This project used live theater to increase understanding and knowledge about intimate partner violence, a pervasive and costly social and health problem. Audiences watched either a play about abusive relationships-emphasizing psychological abuse and the role of coercion and control-or a control play. Compared with controls, those who watched the abuse play were more knowledgeable and less accepting of myths about abusive relationships in a way that mirrored play content. Although both plays were highly transporting, transportation did not explain a significant amount of variance in the attitudes toward intimate partner violence. These results provide rare evidence for theater as a tool for social change.
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , Fielding Graduate University , Santa Barbara , California , USA.
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Dill-Shackleford
authors.forename: Melanie C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scharrer
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wetterer
authors.forename: Lee E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Shackleford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004324:Drama; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence; D019359:Knowledge; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012922:Social Change; D055815:Young Adult