title: East Los High: Transmedia Edutainment to Promote the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Latina/o Americans.
abstract: Latina/o Americans are at high risk for sexually transmitted infections and adolescent pregnancies. Needed urgently are innovative health promotion approaches that are engaging and culturally sensitive. East Los High is a transmedia edutainment program aimed at young Latina/o Americans. It embeds educational messages in entertainment narratives across digital platforms to promote sexual and reproductive health. We employed online analytics tracking (2013-2014), an online viewer survey (2013), and a laboratory experiment (El Paso, TX, 2014) for season 1 program evaluation. We found that East Los High had a wide audience reach, strong viewer engagement, and a positive cognitive, emotional, and social impact on sexual and reproductive health communication and education. Culturally sensitive transmedia edutainment programs are a promising health promotion strategy for minority populations and warrant further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Hua Wang is with the Department of Communication and the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Arvind Singhal is with the Department of Communication, The University of Texas at El Paso, and the Faculty of Business Administration, Hedmark University College, Rena, Norway.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Hua Wang is with the Department of Communication and the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Arvind Singhal is with the Department of Communication, The University of Texas at El Paso, and the Faculty of Business Administration, Hedmark University College, Rena, Norway.
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singhal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003142:Communication; D054521:Cultural Competency / Q000193:education; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D019212:Multimedia; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control; D015397:Program Evaluation; D060728:Reproductive Health / Q000193:education*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D012922:Social Change; D014481:United States