Protective eyewear use as depicted in children's television programs.

PURPOSE: To characterize the depiction of protective eyewear use in scripted children's television programs. METHODS: Viewership ratings data were acquired to generate a list of the most-watched scripted broadcast and cable programs for the 2- to 12-year-old age group. The three highest average viewership programs from broadcast and cable programming that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed by two independent reviewers. RESULTS: Review of 30 episodes revealed a total of 244 exposure-scenes in which an individual was engaged in an activity requiring eye protection. There were 5.5 (mean = 8.1) exposure-scenes per episode, with 26 of 30 (87%) episodes containing at least one exposure-scene. There were 19 depictions of protective eyewear use (8% of total exposure-scenes). Fifteen of the 19 cases of protective eyewear use occurred on broadcast programming. Six eye injuries were depicted in the media content. CONCLUSION: The depiction of protective eyewear use during eye-risk activities is rare in scripted children's television programs and eye injuries are rarely depicted.

The depiction of protective eyewear use in popular television programs.

BACKGROUND: Media portrayal of health related activities may influence health related behaviors in adult and pediatric populations. This study characterizes the depiction of protective eyewear use in the scripted television programs most viewed by the age group that sustains the largest proportion of eye injuries. METHODS: Viewership ratings data were acquired to assemble a list of the 24 most-watched scripted network broadcast programs for the 13-year-old to 45-year-old age group. The six highest average viewership programs that met the exclusion criteria were selected for analysis. RESULTS: Review of 30 episodes revealed a total of 258 exposure scenes in which an individual was engaged in an activity requiring eye protection (mean, 8.3 exposure scenes per episode; median, 5 exposure scenes per episode). Overall, 66 (26%) of exposure scenes depicted the use of any eye protection, while only 32 (12%) of exposure scenes depicted the use of adequate eye protection. No incidences of eye injuries or infectious exposures were depicted within the exposure scenes in the study set. CONCLUSION: The depiction of adequate protective eyewear use during eye-risk activities is rare in network scripted broadcast programs. Healthcare professionals and health advocacy groups should continue to work to improve public education about eye injury risks and prevention; these efforts could include working with the television industry to improve the accuracy of the depiction of eye injuries and the proper protective eyewear used for prevention of injuries in scripted programming. Future studies are needed to examine the relationship between media depiction of eye protection use and viewer compliance rates.