Background:
Several studies have shown that television serves as a primary source of health information for viewers, especially minority viewers who watch more television, and who are at higher risk for disease and disability (Beck & Pollard, 2003). Porter Novelli Healthstyles Survey findings (2005) indicate that 58 percent of regular TV viewers learn about health issues and disease prevention from TV dramas and comedies and that nearly one-in-three intend to take action as a result. Because of its inherent dramatic potential, entertainment education may be used to disseminate priority health information to at-risk audiences about disease, injury and disability.

Objectives:
Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a project based at the USC Annenberg Norman Center, serves to increase the accuracy of public health content on television, including messages to convey that better women's health can help promote a healthy and safe pregnancy for mom and better birth outcomes for the baby.

Methods:
HH&S conducts rigorous outreach with television writers and producers through phone consultations and face-to-face briefings with leading health experts. Materials such as tip sheets and an electronic newsletter with timely health topics are produced for and disseminated to writers. Several events are held each year at the Writers Guild of America, west, including panel discussions and the Sentinel for Health Awards. HH&S also partners with faculty colleagues to evaluate the content and impact of TV health storylines.

Results:
Over the past year, HH&S has received over a dozen inquiries on preconception and maternal/child health topics. The frequency and prominence of pregnancy-related topics in popular television shows have been monitored through the TV Monitoring Project. Several impact studies demonstrate how health storylines can positively impact viewers' knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. Examples of HH&S outreach and evaluation efforts will be discussed and clips will be shown.

Conclusion and implications for practice:
HH&S program results underscore the importance of accurate health content in entertainment television, and the need to understand its impact on diverse audience groups. The support of entertainment education – through partnerships between clinicians, health practitioners and the entertainment world – is essential. Furthermore, it is important to ensure that public health messages will have a broad reach among young women well before they are considering pregnancy. These messages should highlight in a positive context the importance of good preconception care.