Track 15. Comunication, education and health promotion Authors: Beatriz González de Garay; Francisco Javier Frutos Esteban; Marta Cerezo Prieto; Irene Del Arco Bóveda https://youtu.be/9fIKovGSuP8

1. PORTRAYAL OF DISEASES IN
MEDICAL TV FICTION: THE
CASE OF HOSPITAL CENTRAL
(TELECINCO, 2000-2012)
Beatriz González de Garay, Francisco Javier Frutos,
Marta Cerezo, Irene del Arco
Technological Ecosystems for
Enhancing Multiculturality
Salamanca, 3rd November 2016
Track 15: Communication, Education and Health
Promotion

2. introduction
Hospital Central aired for twelve years in the prime time of Telecinco and it has become
the Spanish longest series in its time slot in television history in Spain.
Spanish Collegial Medical Organization (2007)
"should be more realistic -more elderly and fewer children and young people in
hospitals, less sophisticated techniques, less miraculous recoveries, less experimental
treatments...- ".

3. Theorical
framework
 Cultivation theory
 Framing theory
 Entertainment education
 Narrative persuasion
 Health communication

4. Objectives
To know what image offers Hospital Central of diseases
and if these representations correspond to the
statistical incidence data for the period and place
studied

5. Hypothesis 1
Diseases depicted in Spanish
TV-series Hospital Central do
not correspond to the
statistical data for the
period and place studied:
Spain, 2000-2012.
Hypothesis
Hypothesis 2
The profile of the characters who suffer diseases in
Hospital Central does not correspond to the statistical
data regarding age, gender, geographical origin, etc.
Sub-hypothesis 2.1
The characters present hegemonic (most valued
socially) characteristics in the broadcasting context
in terms of ethnicity, complexion, nationality, sexual
orientation, etc.

6. Methodology
Content analysis (Krippendorff, 1990; Igartua y Humanes, 2004)
Sample:
●3 of the 20 seasons randomly selected (43 episodes)
●Episodic characters (256 characters)  The margin of error obtained for the sample was: 5,7%
Inter-rater reliability  14% of the contents was selected (6 episodes)
●Age (0.853)
●Complexion (0,702)
●Ethnicity (1)
●Sex (1)
● Socioeconomic status (0,241)
● Cultural level (0,109)
● Disease (0,707)
● Prognosis (0,703)
Cohen’s Kappa coefficient:
● Sexual orientation
(0,566)
● Nationality (1)
● Occupation (0,621)

7. Results

8. INE
(Hospital Morbidity Survey, 2013)
Age
Characters by age (%)
60 + 20.680.211
40-59 5.528.938
20-39 2.821.174
1
2
3
2

9. Complexion
Characters by complexion (%)
Above 40 years
Children, adolescents
and young adults
(up to 39 years)

10. Ethnicity
Characters by ethnicity (%)
Caucasian and non-Caucasians characters
usually represent injuries, wounds, poisoning,
external factors, falls and accidents.
However, other diseases portrayed differ
between Caucasians and Non-Caucasians

11. Sex

12. INE
Diseases of the circulatory system
Neoplasms
Diseases of the respiratory system
Diseases of the digestive system
Mental and behavioural disorders
Falls, hits and other accidents
Injury, poisoning and certain other
consequences of external causes
Sex
Male characters
Falls, hits and other accidents
Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of
external causes
Diseases of the circulatory system
External causes of mortality and morbidity
Diseases of the respiratory system
Neoplasms
Mental and behavioural disorders
Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue
Congenital malformations, deformatios
Symphtoms, digns and abdominal clinical findings
Side effects
HOSPITAL CENTRAL
Resources to capture
the attention and
mantain the dramatic
tension

13. INE
Diseases of the circulatory system
Neoplasms
Injury, poisoning and certain other
consequences of external causes
Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium
Diseases of the respiratory system
Diseases of the digestive system
Falls, hits and other accidents
Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of
external causes
External causes of mortality and morbidity
Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium
Sex
Female characters
HOSPITAL CENTRAL

14. INE
11,7 % of
foreign
population in
Spain
Nationality
H C
8,2 % of non-
spanish
episodic
characters
In all cases Romanian characters appear
representing either “Diseases of pregnancy,
childbirth and the puerperium” or “Certain
conditions originating in the perinatal period”
The proportion of foreigners who suffer “Certain
infectious and parasitic diseases” is slightly higher
than the proportion of Spaniards

15. Disease
Hospital Central INE

16. Prognosis
Characters by prognosis (%)

17. Main
causes
of death
INE
● Tumors (24,8%)
● Diseases of the circulatory system (21,6%)
● Diseases of the respiratory system (18%)
● Fall, hits and other accidents (32,6%)
● Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (22,2%)
● Neoplasms (13%)
● External causes of morbidity and mortality (11,1%)
● Diseases of the circulatory system (8,3%)
Hospital Central

18. Conclusions

19. H1
Diseases depicted in Spanish TV-series Hospital Central do not
correspond to the statistical data for the period and place
studied: Spain, 2000-2012.
Partially corroborated
since the diseases represented in Hospital Central don’t fully correspond to the statistical
incidence data; while it is true that some of them show similarities between reality and
representation
Injury, poisoning
Fall, hits
Deaths
Mental and
behavioural
disorders

20. H2
The profile of the characters who suffer diseases
in Hospital Central does not correspond to the
statistical data regarding age, gender,
geographical origin, etc.
Corroborated
because although some data correspond to the statistical
data, in most cases they do not

21. Corroborated
Hospital Central shows characters that have mostly social hegemonic characteristics within the
broadcasting context: Caucasian ethnicity, ectomorph complexion, male sex and Spanish
nationality.
H2.1
The characters present hegemonic
(most valued socially) characteristics in the broadcasting
context in terms of ethnicity, complexion, nationality, sexual
orientation, etc.
Profile of patient that
responds to hegemonic
groups
Senior ages
(suffer more
diseases)

22. Thank you very much!
Technological Ecosystems for
Enhancing Multiculturality
Salamanca, 3rd November 2016
Track 15: Communication, Education and Health
Promotion