Does watching television affect your trust in the medical profession? A quantitative analysis.

Abstract

Background: The research question in this quantitative study is two-fold: first this paper studies the influence of watching television on the viewers’ trust in the medical profession (TIM). Second, this study focuses on the influence of the total viewing volume and the exposure to specific images concerning medical characters.

Methods: Data was collected on 1275 Flemish adolescents using a longitudinal panel study. Included were questions on their overall and specific media use, health behaviour and health perceptions. An analysis on television content was used in order to link health related content to specific types of television programming. TIM was questioned using a ten item scale (α=.85).

Findings: Results of a regression analysis show that age is a predictor of TIM. The respondents’ sex and health status and overall amount of television watched are not related. However, the exposure to images concerning medical characters is a significant predictor of TIM (β=.08).