Audience involvement with "Kushi Ko Sansar," a children's TV show in Nepal: An entertainment-education initiative promoting positive attitudes and actions toward people with disabilities
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161 p
附註
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-03, Section: A, page: 0801
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Regent University, 2008
This study examined audience involvement with a Nepali children's TV show, Khushiko Sansar (Happy World). Its effectiveness as an entertainment-education communication tool in Nepal, as it relates specifically to attitudes and actions toward people with disabilities, is researched and discussed. This study employed parasocial interaction (PSI) and identification as foundational communication theories
PSI focuses on the perceived relationship which individuals form with media characters. A parasocial relationship with a television personae occurs when a television viewer thinks or feels like they have a personal relationship with a television character, when in fact the viewer has no personal relationship with the television actor or actress playing the role of that character (Brown, 1990). Although there has been much research done on PSI and celebrity identification, no empirical research has examined how Nepali children respond to a television program and persona which promotes positive beliefs, attitudes and actions toward people with disabilities
This study used a quantitative methodology of research conducted among 356 children between the ages of 6-15 who watched two episodes of Khushiko Sansar (KKS), a children's entertainment-education TV program. Survey questionnaires were used to study how young audiences responded to the TV message from their personal, cultural and socioeconomic context and how they engaged with the show's characters and message. Self-report survey instruments were used to assess the children's beliefs, attitudes and intended actions toward people with disabilities before and after exposure to the TV episodes about people with disabilities
Results show that exposure to the TV program character's message concerning disabilities caused changes in thoughts and intended actions toward people with disabilities. Exposure to the program led to a desire or motivation to embrace and act upon the educational disability messages presented by the main character
