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Witnesses the lack of medical students' interest in novels (regardless of format), particularly in contrast with much more positive attitudes to public health related movies. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

Reading books and watching films were investigated as protective factors for serious suicidal ideation (SSI) in young people with low perceived social belonging. Cross-sectional and longitudinal (12-month) analyses were performed using data from a representative European sample of 3256 students from the “Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe” study. Low social belonging was associated to SSI. However, reading books and watching films moderated this association, especially for those with lowest levels of belonging. This was true both at baseline and at 12 months of follow-up analyses. These media may act as sources of social support or mental health literacy and thus reduce the suicide risk constituted by low sense of belonging.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines ageism as the stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination towards people on the basis of age. Ageism cuts across the life-course and stems from the perception that a person might be too old or too young to be or to do something. Ageism is highly prevalent; however, unlike other forms of discrimination, including sexism and racism, it is socially accepted and usually unchallenged, because of its largely implicit and subconscious nature. Children as young as 4 years are aware of their cultures' age stereotypes. These stereotypes focus predominantly on the negative aspects of ageing, with older age typecast as an inevitable decline in physical and mental capacities and a period of dependency. Language and media, including films, television, popular music, print and social media, most often echo and reinforce these stereotypes, because ageist depictions tend to be the norm. As we get older, we experience ageism from others, but also from ourselves, because of the unconscious internalization of society's negative attitudes and stereotypes towards older people. This helps to explain why older people often try to stay young, feel shame about getting older and limit what they think they can do instead of taking pride in the accomplishment of ageing. Perceived discrimination, whether based on race, gender or age, has negative health outcomes. Ageism has been shown to have significant impact on our participation in society, health and longevity. For example, evidence shows that those who hold negative attitudes on ageing have slower recovery from disability, live on average 7.5 years less than those who hold positive attitudes and are less likely to be socially integrated. Ageism also imposes barriers to the development of good policies on ageing and health as it influences the way problems are framed, the questions that are asked and the solutions that are offered. In this context, age is often understood as sufficient justification for treating people unequally and limiting their opportunities for meaningful contribution.

NRC publication: Yes

The hegemonic meaning of depression as a universal mental illness embodied by an individualized subject is propped up by psychiatry's clinical gaze. Cinemas of Therapeutic Activism turns to the work of contemporary filmmakers who express a shared concern for mental health under global capitalism to explore how else depression can be perceived. In taking their critical visions as intercessors for thought, Adam Szymanski proposes a thoroughly relational understanding of depression attentive to eventful, collective and contingent qualities of subjectivity. What emerges is a melancholy aesthetics attuned to the existential contours and political stakes of health. Cinemas of Therapeutic Activism adventurously builds affinities across the lines of national, linguistic and cultural difference. The films of Angela Schanelec, Kelly Reichardt, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Kanakan Balintagos are grouped together for the first time, constituting a polystylistic common front of artist-physicians who live, work, and create on the belief that life can be more liveable.

Objectives. We compared the relative efficacy of a fictional narrative film to a more traditional nonnarrative film in conveying the same health information. Methods. We used a random digit dial procedure to survey the cervical cancer-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of non-Hispanic White, Mexican American, and African American women, aged 25 to 45 years, living in Los Angeles, California, from 2011 to 2012. Participants (n = 704) were randomly assigned to view either a narrative or nonnarrative film containing the same information about how cervical cancer could be prevented or detected, and they were re-contacted 2 weeks and 6 months later. Results. At 2 weeks, both films produced a significant increase in cervical cancer-related knowledge and attitudes, but these effects were significantly higher for the narrative film. At 6 months, viewers of both films retained greater than baseline knowledge and more positive attitudes toward Papanicolaou (Pap) tests, but women who saw the narrative were significantly more likely to have had or scheduled a Pap test. The narrative was particularly effective for Mexican American women, eliminating cervical cancer screening disparities found at baseline. Conclusions. Narratives might prove to be a useful tool for reducing health disparities.

Background Edutainment aims to spread educational messages in an entertaining way, and often reaches large audiences. While studies increasingly report the impacts of edutainment interventions, there is limited context-specific evidence on the underlying processes and barriers to effective delivery, especially in rural areas. This article presents results from a process evaluation of a community-based edutainment intervention designed to improve knowledge, attitudes, and practices on gender-based violence (GBV), sexual and reproductive health (SRH), and maternal and child health. The intervention focused on the television series, C’est la Vie!, screened through biweekly film clubs in rural Senegal and included post-screening discussions and thematic workshops, meant to reinforce messages, increase knowledge, and change social norms. The objectives of this study were to assess intervention adaptation, implementation fidelity, participants’ responsiveness or engagement, and series appropriateness. Methods The intervention was implemented from December 2019 to March 2020 in 120 villages in Kaolack and Kolda regions of Senegal, and targeted adolescent girls and young women aged 14 to 34. The process evaluation was carried out in March 2020 in 14 villages using: i) individual semi-structured interviews with implementers ( n  = 3), village chiefs ( n  = 8), married women ( n  = 9), adolescent girls (n = 8), and men (n = 8); ii) focus groups with men ( n  = 7, 29 participants) and women ( n  = 10, 100 participants); and iii) observations of screening sessions ( n  = 4) and post-screening discussions ( n  = 2). Data were analyzed using thematic and content analysis. Results The results highlight that adaptation of the intervention helped reach the target population and improved participant attendance, but might have compromised fidelity to original design, as intervention components were shortened and modified for rural delivery and some facilitators made ad hoc modifications. The screenings coverage and frequency were adequate; however, their duration was shortened due to COVID-19 restrictions in Senegal. Participant responsiveness was excellent, as was the series appropriateness for most topics, including GBV. SRH remains a sensitive topic for youth, especially when the film clubs included non-peers, such as slightly older women. Conclusions This study showed that using film clubs to deliver sensitive edutainment content in rural areas is feasible and has potential for scale-up.

[...]in its ninth edition, the non-profit's flagship annual event, the Global Health Film Festival (GHFF), continues to be, McHugh explains, “a convening space bringing together hundreds of global health professionals, thought-leaders, policy makers, students, and film-makers from all around the work to experience really great storytelling together, to discuss and debate the issues and the solutions, and to forge collaborations at the intersection of art and health…we are often talking to film-makers about their projects up to 5 years ahead of them hitting the big screen”. With remarkable diversity and breadth, the films include explorations of planetary health, food systems, the climate crisis, refugee and migrant health, global mental health, and access to health care. The film shows how these powers have not only been used for suspected terrorists, but have also targeted human rights activists and reporters. Since 2022, these powers were extended and are now applied to refugees and migrants coming to the UK by small boats.

Background Public health systems across the European Union face growing pressure from aging populations, non-communicable diseases, health inequalities, and climate-related risks. While policy innovation is ongoing, there is limited comparative evidence on which interventions consistently deliver impact. This study addresses that gap by evaluating cross-country outcomes to guide health system reform under the European Health Union. Methods We applied the Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis (CINeMA) framework to assess public health strategies across 11 EU countries. Interventions were grouped into five domains: digital health, health equity, preventive public health, climate-resilient strategies, and mental health programs. Outcomes included unmet medical needs, NCD mortality, access to care, mental health service use, and climate-related illness. Confidence scores were derived using CINeMA's six evaluation domains and supported by hybrid AI text mining for bias and indirectness detection. Results Digital health and mental health programs showed the most consistent high-confidence effects, including unmet need reductions (-9.0% in Ireland, -8.2% in Germany) and higher service use (+12.0% in Sweden). Preventive and climate-focused strategies yielded benefits (e.g., -10.5% ER visits in Finland), though with higher heterogeneity. Equity interventions reduced access gaps (14.1% in Hungary) but often showed moderate imprecision due to uneven implementation. Conclusions Integrated governance linking digital tools, equity, and climate resilience is key to system preparedness. Several countries are already expanding preventive services and open-data tools, supporting the EU-wide adoption of CINeMA as a framework for transparent, evidence-based policymaking. These results are highly relevant to post-pandemic EU health strategy and provide scalable insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners. Key messages • To evaluate the rising non-communicable diseases and increasing environmental threats this study applied a hybrid Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis approach to policy data from 11 E. U. countries. • Analyzed access to care, mortality from non-communicable diseases, mental health service utilization, climate-related illness, and unmet healthcare needs correlated with equity-based policies.