Effects of a drug overdose in a television drama on presentations to hospital for self poisoning: time series and questionnaire study
Effects of a drug overdose in a television drama on knowledge of specific dangers of self poisoning: population based surveys
Events depicted in television medical dramas can influence viewers' behaviour and therefore producers must ensure that the clinical information they portray is accurate say researchers in this week's BMJ. In two studies, which centred around an episode of the BBC's Casualty in which a character took an overdose of paracetamol, the researchers found that both knowledge of the effects of fatal liver damage after such an overdose and the actual incidences of self-poisoning increased.
In their study of 49 accident and emergency departments and psychiatric services in the UK, Professor Keith Hawton from the Warneford Hospital in Oxford and colleagues found that in the week after the episode of Casualty was broadcast, people attempting overdoses increased by nearly one fifth (17 per cent). Paracetamol overdoses increased in particular, but only among those patients who had seen the Casualty episode. There was not an increase in the number of deaths caused by self-poisoning after the broadcast.
In a separate, but related study, Dr Susan O'Connor from Barrow Hospital in Bristol and colleagues discovered that medical soap operas also have enormous potential for educating viewers about medical matters. Those people who had watched the episode of Casualty were twice as likely to know about the specific dangers of paracetamol poisoning than those who had not and this increased knowledge was largely found to be retained eight months after the broadcast.
O'Connor et al conclude that there is an onus on broadcasters to ensure that medical information is presented correctly, whilst Hawton and colleagues say that their findings raise serious questions about the portrayal of suicidal behaviour on television. They argue that TV producers should consider how their clearly influential role could encourage those people at risk to seek help, thereby contributing to the prevention of this major health problem.
Contact:
Professor Keith Hawton, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford Email: Keith.Hawton@psychiatry.oxford.ac.uk
Dr Susan O'Connor, Consultant Psychiatrist, United Bristol Healthcare Trust, Directorate of Mental Health, Barrow Hospital, Bristol Email: susan.oconnor@ukonline.co.uk
or Professor Christopher Bulstrode, Professor of Orthopaedics, University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford