Search Results (24)

Commissioned for West German public television, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s hotly debated 1972 series Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day was Germany’s first working-class family drama. Centering on the growing class consciousness of a crew of toolmakers in Cologne, the show provoked an explosion of criticism and debate among conservative critics, leftists, and trade unionists alike. Westdeutscher Rundfunk—a leader in high-quality, non-commercial, socially engaged television—sought to meet the cultural demands of the New Left by embracing the “worker film” (Arbeiterfilm) that aspired to bring the lives and dreams of the working class, WDR’s target audience, to the screen for the first time. What they got instead was a radical call for the abolition of capitalism—a TV-show that did not condescend to workers through representation of their everyday struggles, but rather radicalized them into the knowledge that employers need workers, not the other way around. Within a remarkably intersectional framework that appoints the lone non-straight, racialized worker and female characters the intellectual vanguard of the mobilizing workers, the show takes the contradictions between the factory workers’ interests and those of their management as its dramatic motor, converging on the anticapitalist insight that eight hours do not, in fact, make a day. Unsurprisingly, despite its popularity, Fassbinder’s show was cancelled five episodes into an eight episode series. In this article, I consider its potential in terms of two great thinkers of abolition—Mario Tronti, a founding figure in the Operaismo movement, and Mario Mieli, a gay communist organizer who asserted that the “liberation of Eros and the achievement of communism” were two sides of the same coin. Full article

Background/Objectives: HPV vaccination rates among U.S. young adults remain unchanged at 47% since 2019. Barriers including misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and stigma surrounding HPV’s long-standing association with sexually transmitted infections have limited widespread acceptance among the male population. This experimental study explores how prevention messages incorporating an emotional flow element may influence vaccination intention. It also examines whether vaccination status may differentiate pre-exposure risk-taking tendencies and vaccine perceptions—as well as post-exposure HPV susceptibility, HPV severity, vaccine effectiveness, and emotional response—among young adults. Methods: A one-factor between-subjects experiment (including facts-only vs. facts→threat vs. facts→threat→hope conditions) was conducted online with a group of Gen Z college students at a U.S. university (N = 440). Results: ANCOVA results indicated that emotional flow embedded in the three message conditions did not result in significantly different emotional responses (across all participants) or vaccination intention among the unvaccinated participants. Whereas vaccinated participants reported greater perceived vaccine benefits, HPV susceptibility, HPV severity, and vaccine effectiveness, unvaccinated participants exhibited stronger emotional responses toward the facts→threat→hope message instead. Regression results revealed that vaccine perceptions, risk-taking tendencies, HPV susceptibility, and emotional response significantly predicted vaccination intention, in that order. TV advertising was identified as the leading HPV information source, followed by social media advertisements and recommendations from health professionals. Conclusions: These findings highlight that incorporating emotional flow may enhance message engagement among unvaccinated individuals. HPV campaigns should consider increasing positive vaccine perceptions, alleviating perceived threat of HPV, and eliciting positive emotional response toward vaccination acceptance and adoption. Full article

This paper presents Greenopoli, an innovative framework for sustainability and waste management education that has engaged over 600 schools and 90,000 students since 2014. Greenopoli is founded on the idea that children and youth can grasp environmental issues as well as adults and act as agents of change within their families and communities. The Greenopoli approach combines scientific accuracy with playful, creative pedagogy to simplify complex topics and stimulate peer-to-peer learning. It includes storytelling, games, field visits, and “green raps” (original environmental songs co-created with students). The framework is adaptive, with content and activities tailored to education stages from kindergarten through university. Educators adopt the role of moderators or facilitators, encouraging students to discuss and discover concepts collaboratively. Greenopoli’s participatory method has been implemented across all age groups, yielding enthusiastic engagement and tangible outcomes in waste sorting and recycling behaviors. The program’s reach has extended beyond schools through collaborations with national recycling consortia, NGOs, municipalities, and media (TV programs, social media, TEDx talks). Numerous awards and recognitions (2017–2025) have highlighted its impact. A comparative analysis shows that Greenopoli’s use of peer-led learning, gamification, and creative communication aligns with global best practices while offering a unique blend of tools. Greenopoli is a novel best-practice model in environmental education, bridging theory and practice and contributing to the goals of Education for Sustainable Development and a circular economy. It demonstrates the effectiveness of engaging youth as change-makers through interactive and creative learning, and it can inspire similar initiatives globally. Full article

Social acceptance among peers is an important predictor of adolescents’ academic and social outcomes. This study investigates how social acceptance depends on adolescents’ engagement in watching TV and gaming. Based on Contact Theory, we expected that TV watching and gaming are linked to digital contact with peers, which in turn predicts acceptance among classmates. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study with two measurement points among 826 7th graders (M = 13.32 years; 47.6% girls). Multilevel analyses revealed that more TV watching and gaming were related to higher social acceptance cross-sectionally. This effect was mediated by greater digital contact with peers. However, no associations were found between contact via media and changes in acceptance over time. These results suggest that media use and related peer contact may be more relevant in short-term interactions when explaining adolescents’ acceptance among classmates. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Full article

Objective: Historically, television has been regarded as the mass medium that is most closely associated with audiences’ needs and expectations. In the context of rapid population ageing, older adults now inhabit a progressively important place in society, and they remain the most frequent consumers of broadcast television. This study investigates the formative role of television among Portuguese older adults—combining informal learning, cognitive engagement, and social connection. It explores how TV contributes to well-being and participation in later life. Methods: An anonymous survey was conducted with 203 participants aged 65 to 94. Results: Television continues to play a fundamental role in older adults’ everyday lives, mitigating loneliness and promoting happiness, information, and life satisfaction. We also saw that higher TV consumption is related with superior income and residence in urban areas. Conclusions: The findings highlight television’s enduring formative and compensatory functions and contribute to ongoing debates on active ageing, media literacy, and digital inclusion among older adults. Full article

Examining public attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination is crucial for understanding the global effort to combat the ongoing pandemic. Social media platforms such as YouTube play a significant role in the dissemination of information and misinformation about the vaccine, making it imperative to analyze user comments to gain insights into vaccine perceptions. Analyzing the Philippines case is particularly significant as it provides insights into the attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination in a country that has been heavily impacted by the pandemic. The current study investigates the discourse surrounding vaccine hesitancy in comments on YouTube videos announcing the COVID-19 vaccination campaign by the Philippines national TV channels and its impact on engagement levels. A total of 741 YouTube comments were analyzed, with 80% exhibiting vaccine-hesitant related discourse. The results indicate that those with negative attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination exhibit higher engagement levels than those supporting vaccination (p < 0.05). Additionally, the most commonly used themes in vaccine-hesitant posts were “ingredients”, “health department control”, “pharmaceutical interest”, and “adverse effects”. Moreover, 134 sources were identified among the posts, with vaccine-hesitant posts utilizing more sources than supportive vaccine posts (p < 0.001). The most significant information sources utilized in the posts were related to other YouTube users, politicians, clinicians, and scientific papers. Finally, a total of 890 discourses were coded, with the most frequently used discourse types among vaccine-hesitant posts being negationist, institutional, preventive, political, and pharmaceutical. These findings offer valuable insights into the nature and prevalence of vaccine hesitancy discourse on social media platforms and its impact on public engagement. This study highlights the importance of targeted communication strategies and the provision of accurate information from reliable sources in addressing vaccine hesitancy. Full article

South Korea is a rapidly aging society with the lowest fertility rates among the OECD economies. It is projected to become a super-aged society in 2025, with the share of individuals older than 65 reaching twenty percent. These developments make it important to analyze the determinants of health outcomes in older individuals. In this study, we identified the determinants of subjective and objective health outcomes among senior individuals in South Korea. We used self-rated health and life satisfaction scores as the two subjective health status indicators, while the number of chronic diseases was the objective one. We ran Tobit multivariate regressions of all three indicators on a set of factors related to the older citizens’ physical, economic, and social characteristics. Active employment status and willingness to work in the future were positively related to self-rated health level but were not statistically related to life satisfaction, while income positively affected both subjective health status indicators. Age did not appear to affect satisfaction with life. Active leisure activities were positively related to both self-rated health and life satisfaction. In contrast, passive leisure, such as watching TV, was negatively related to both health status indicators while being associated with an increased number of chronic diseases. Our findings suggest that older South Koreans view employment primarily as a means of financial support rather than as an opportunity for active social engagement. Full article

Moral features are essential components of TV series, helping the audience to engage with the story, exploring themes beyond sheer entertainment, reflecting current social issues, and leaving a long-lasting impact on the viewers. Their presence shows through the language employed in the plot description. Their detection helps regarding understanding the series writers’ underlying message. In this paper, we propose an approach to detect moral features in TV series. We rely on the Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) framework to classify moral features and use the associated MFT dictionary to identify the words expressing those features. Our approach combines that dictionary with word embedding and similarity analysis through a deep learning SBERT (Sentence-Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) architecture to quantify the comparative prominence of moral features. We validate the approach by applying it to the definition of the MFT moral feature labels as appearing in general authoritative dictionaries. We apply our technique to the summaries of a selection of TV series representative of several genres and relate the results to the actual content of each series, showing the consistency of results. Full article

Through the actions and interactions of video platform users, talent shows have expanded from the entertainment sphere to the social sphere and become an everyday part of life. Watching talent shows on online platforms, especially through participation in multi-platform interaction, is an ever developing and innovative field in many regions. This study adopts a multiple case analysis approach. We analyze and compare three cases of talent shows, examining aspects of their value co-creation, digital platform, dynamic capability and value network through an exploration of a series of creative activities on digital video platforms. Talent shows provide a unique environment in which different actors interact, co-exist and co-create value, i.e., another form of O2O marketing. These actors include producers, entertainment companies, sponsors and fans, and fan value co-creation currently takes many different forms, which are experienced, engaged and interacted with through different platforms. The findings contribute to examining the underlying dynamics of TV talent shows, in addition to explaining how they are achieving sustainable advantages in the media market. Furthermore, this study aims to understand the service ecosystem of network talent shows from the perspective of industrial innovation strategy; consequently, this research can help to promote the implications of this new form of digital content services and its innovation strategies. Full article

TV audiences today are more likely to use an additional media device to further engage with the television content, a phenomenon known as “second screening”. This study takes second screening research into an authoritarian context to investigate what motivates users to search for information, engage in discussions, and post on social media. We apply an O-S-O-R model and demonstrates an integrated procedure of second screening’s political effects among citizens of Beijing. Our findings showed that most of the direct and indirect paths in this model were significantly positive. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed. Full article

Delinquency in adolescence is rooted in a complex multifaceted system that comprises several factors such as personal characteristics, family, school, peers, and community, all of which are embedded in the sociocultural context in which they are present. There is a paucity of research on juvenile delinquency and its risk factors across many regions, especially low- and middle-income countries, including Arab countries. This study aimed to develop an understanding of the personal, familial, and behavioral characteristics of Arab juvenile delinquents in the distinctive sociocultural context of Jordan. All juveniles who were incarcerated at the time of data collection (N = 197) were targeted using a convenience sampling approach from a total of 11 juvenile rehabilitation centers distributed over the northern, middle, and southern regions of the country. Anonymous surveys were used to collect data on juvenile delinquents’ personal, familial, psychosocial, and behavioral characteristics. A total of 186 juvenile delinquents completed the study questionnaire (9.7% females). About 52% were not attending school regularly, 32% had divorced, separated, or deceased parents, 6% reported receiving a diagnosis of mental illness, and 91% reported they never sought psychological support of any kind. Regarding substance consumption, 70% were smokers, 26% were alcohol consumers, and 15% were on drugs. About 12% spent more than 7 h on their cellphones, and 43% reported dedicating no time for physical activity. Theft was the most frequently reported offense (35%), followed by quarreling with peers (25%), and possession of drugs (9%). Approximately 42% reported that their friends encouraged them to cause trouble, while the majority (74%) reported that their school had no positive or negative influence on their behavior. Several behavioral problems were detected, with females showing significantly higher scores in impulsivity, inattention, emotional lability, and social problems compared to their male counterparts. Severity of the conduct problems was negatively associated with the length of engagement in physical activities, while both impulsivity and inattention scores were positively associated with the length of engagement in watching TV and using cellphones (all p < 0.05). Overall, these juvenile delinquents have unsatisfactory academic and schooling experiences, engage in unhealthy lifestyles and exhibit several behavioral problems. Differences in juvenile delinquency risk factors across different sociocultural contexts can influence prevention efforts. Comprehensive prevention strategies that reduce risk and develop protective factors need to target juveniles early in their development and consider factors related to their families, schools, peers, and communities. Full article

Objective: To examine changes in leisure participation following stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and explore its relationship to modifiable and non-modifiable participant characteristics. Design: An observational study design with self-report questionnaires collected at two time points (baseline and 6-months). Setting: The study was conducted across 21 hospital sites in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Participants: Participants were aged 18+ and had experienced a first or recurrent stroke or TIA and had a post-stroke/TIA modified Rankin score (mRS) of ≤3. Procedure: Research practitioners at each site approached potential participants. Individuals who agreed to participate completed a baseline questionnaire whilst an inpatient or at a first post-stroke/TIA clinic appointment. A follow-up questionnaire was posted to participants with a freepost return envelope. Two questionnaires were developed that collected demographic information, pre-stroke/TIA mRS, social circumstances (e.g., employment situation) and incorporated the shortened Nottingham Leisure Questionnaire (sNLQ). Results: The study recruited eligible participants (N = 3295); 2000 participants returned questionnaires at follow-up. Data showed three participant variables were significant predictors of engagement in leisure activities post-stroke/TIA: age, sex, and deprivation decile. There was an overall decline in the number and variety of leisure activities, with an average loss of 2.2 activities following stroke/TIA. Only one activity, “exercise/fitness” saw an increase in engagement from baseline to follow-up; watching TV remained stable, whilst participation in all other activities reduced between 10% and 40% with an average activity engagement reduction of 22%. Conclusions: Some groups experienced a greater reduction in activities than others—notably older participants, female participants, and those living in a low socioeconomic area. Registration: researchregistry4607. Strengths and limitations of this study: 1. This is the largest-ever study to survey life and leisure activity engagement following stroke/TIA. 2. Survey responses were self-reported retrospectively and, therefore, may have been misreported, or misremembered. 3. Despite the large cohort, there were few participants, and so respondents, from ethnic minority groups. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global public health and public trust in health recommendations. Trust in health information may waver in the context of health inequities. The objective of this scoping review is to map evidence on public perceptions of COVID-19 prevention information using the PROGRESS-Plus health equity framework. We systematically searched the MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycInfo, and Embase databases from January 2020 to July 2021. We identified 792 citations and 31 studies published in 15 countries that met all inclusion criteria. The majority (30/31; 96.7%) of the studies used an observational design (74.2% cross-sectional, 16.1% cohort, 6.5% case study, 3.2% experimental trials). Most studies (61.3%) reported on perception, understanding, and uptake, and 35.5% reported on engagement, compliance, and adherence to COVID-19 measures. The most frequently reported sources of COVID-related information were social media, TV, news (newspapers/news websites), and government sources. We identified five important equity factors related to public trust and uptake of recommendations: education and health literacy (19 studies; 61.3%), gender (15 studies; 48.4%), age (15 studies; 48.4%), socioeconomic status (11 studies; 35.5%), and place of residence (10 studies; 32.3%). Our review suggests that equity factors play a role in public perception of COVID-19 information and recommendations. A future systematic review could be conducted to estimate the impact of equity factors on perception and behavior outcomes. Full article

Monkeypox is re-emerging and spreading over the world, posing a serious threat to human life, especially in non-endemic countries, including Saudi Arabia. Due to the paucity of research on knowledge about monkeypox in Saudi Arabia, this study aimed to evaluate the general population’s knowledge of monkeypox in a sample of the country. A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted from 25 May 2022 to 15 July 2022. Participants’ knowledge about monkeypox on a 23-item scale and socio-demographic characteristics were gathered in the survey. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to compare knowledge level (categorized into high and low) and explanatory variables. Out of 480, only 48% of the respondents had high knowledge (mean score > 14). Participants’ age, marital status, residential region, living in the urban area, education level, employment status, being a healthcare worker, income, and smoking status were significantly associated with the level of knowledge about monkeypox (p < 0.01). Overall, social media (75.0%) was the most frequently reported source from where participants obtained monkeypox-related information followed by TV and radio (45.6%), family or friend (15.6%), and healthcare provider (13.8%). We found that overall knowledge of monkeypox infection was slightly poor among the Saudi population. These findings highlight the urgent need for public education on monkeypox to promote awareness and engage the public ahead of the outbreak. Full article

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued to spread rapidly worldwide, forcing countries to enact lockdowns and strict social-distancing measures that affect individual and population health. This study investigates the changes in dietary habits and lifestyle behaviors among Saudi residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 786 participants, with a mean age of 30 years. The questionnaire was administered online and sent via social media applications. Dietary habits, physical activity, TV-watching time, sleep patterns, stressors, and socio-demographic data were evaluated. Among the survey respondents, there was an increase in weight gain, food consumption, and decreased physical activity. Respondents who gained weight consumed more snacks, ate larger food portions, and engaged in less physical activity. Furthermore, a high fish, water, and supplements intake was noticed. Although respondents’ intake of fruits and vegetables was low, most individuals reported a negatively changed intake. However, most respondents reported increased consumption of lean meat and sweet foods. Observing changes in dietary and lifestyle habits during the lockdown period may help elaborate on the pandemic’s consequences for population health and assist in formulating and implementing policies for future closures, while supporting vulnerable groups. Full article