Dissertation
Taking responsibility for your own health: understanding Chinese health television
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2022
DOI: 10.25820/etd.006824
Abstract
With the advent of an aging society and an increase in the number of chronic diseases, China has switched its focus on promoting prevention when deepening health reform. The Chinese government has mobilized media resources, such as broadcast television, to encourage more individual responsibility for health. Integrated attribution, cultivation, and social cognitive theories, the dissertation explores how Chinese television cultivates the belief of personal responsibility for health and shapes preventive health behaviors that center on traditional medicine and self-care among viewers.
An explanatory sequential mixed-method approach was employed to explore and understand Chinese health television programs. Results of the quantitative content analysis showed that television focuses on individual and behavioral factors in explaining the causes of health problems and places most of the problem-solving responsibility on behavior change, while neglecting social and environmental factors that can have a fundamental impact on health status. The textual analysis revealed an asymmetry in cross-referencing between TCM and WM on the screen: Western medical knowledge was frequently cited by TCM experts, but TCM rarely appeared in WM narratives. In addition, the thematic analysis shows that cultural values are deeply embedded in the health discourse about TCM, and life-nurturing practice has been connected to Chinese cultural virtues such as self-regulation, self-cultivation, and filial piety.
A survey was conducted to explore the association between viewing health TV programs and health-related beliefs, and to investigate cultural, psychosocial, and sociodemographic factors that contribute to Chinese viewers’ preventive health behaviors. Results demonstrate that compared to light viewers, heavy viewers have more positive attitudes toward TCM and Integrative Medicine, agree more with the cultural values associated with TCM, and are more likely to believe life-nurturing practices will produce good health. Findings reveal that individual responsibility for health is internalized through television cultivation as a normative belief about health. This normative belief, along with self-efficacy, ancient healing tradition, cultural adherence, and environmental facilitators, contributed to the popular preventive health behaviors centered on life-nurturing and self-care in contemporary China.
This study suggests the huge capacity of mass media in constructing the social understanding of health and illness, fostering cultural deliberation of ancient medical practices and self-care, shaping the mindset of health promotion, and fostering preventive health behaviors among the public. While most of the existing literature in this area focuses on examining the cultivating effect of media on a specific health issue, this study reveals how the general health promotion mindsets and preventive health behaviors are shaped by the multifaceted influences of media, culture, and psychosocial determinants. This study also reveals the tension and common ground between the most dominant biomedical model of health and the rising alternative and complementary medicine, which furthers our understanding of the growing global uptake of integrative medicine.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Taking responsibility for your own health: understanding Chinese health television
- Creators
- Ge Zhu
- Contributors
- Rachel Young (Advisor)Shelly Campo (Committee Member)Kajsa Dalrymple (Committee Member)Jessica Moorman (Committee Member)Elise Pizzi (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Mass Communication
- Date degree season
- Summer 2022
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.006824
- Number of pages
- xi, 226 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2022 Ge Zhu
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- illustrations, tables
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-214).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- In recent years, television programs that feature health and wellness have been particularly popular in mainland China. However, neither health television programs have been systematically examined regarding how they present health issues, nor the relationship between exposure to health television and health beliefs and behaviors has been investigated. My study aims to address this research gap. I used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore how Chinese television explains the causes of and provides solutions to health problems. I found that television tends to attribute causes and problem-solving responsibility to individuals, while ignoring societal and environmental causes and strategies. Employing both traditional and modern medicine, Chinese health television actively cultivates the notion of individual responsibility for health. I also conducted a survey to gather information about health beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions among Chinese viewers. Findings suggest the more people watch and believe in health television programs, the more they have a positive attitude toward traditional medicine, perceived more responsibility for health, and are more likely to engage in preventive health behaviors.
- Academic Unit
- School of Journalism and Mass Communication
- Record Identifier
- 9984285152702771
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