Examining the effects of watching television programson health and affected states of adults living in a rural area of the city of Elaziğ

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the influenced states of the adults living ina rural area of the Elazığ Province when they watch the TV programs on healt. Material and Method : This isa crosssectional type of study.The study population comprised Kovancılar and Palu Districts along with the villages of these areas in the City of Elazığ. The research was carried out on 462 adults selected through the cluster sampling method proportionate to the population. The research data were obtained through the use ofa scale developed for analyzing the factors affecting the motivations of the participants watching the TV programs on health, along with a questionnaire comprising their sociodemographic characteristics and their states in watching such TV programs. The questionnaire and the scale were performed by having a face-toface interview between thedates, September 15 December 15 in2014. In the analysis of the research data, parametric, nonparametric tests and factor analysis were performed, and the level of significance in the research was selected as P>0,05. Findings: 29.4% out of 462 adults within the scope of the research are male, whereas 70.6% of them are female. The mean age is 36.5±1.49. More than half of the participants (61.3%) are on the secondary education level or below. 52.2% of male and 64.4% of female participants stated that they watched TV. 66.5% of these participants remarked that they counted on TV programs, while 76.2% of them said they found health programs on TV necessary and 46.9% of them said that health programs on TV responded to the health problems of rural people, whereas 60.2% of them stated that they would like to watch such programs more. In this research, it was determined that the otivations for health communication consisted of four factors (enlightenment /getting informed, spending time habits, morale support awareness and personal advantage factor) and that these factors comprised 52.314'ünü% of the total variation. Result: The involved participants generally find it necessary to watch health programs on TV, and most of them express the fact that they are positively influenced by watching such programs. It canbe stated that developing knowledge on personal health is regarded as being of primary importance considering the motivations of watching health programs on TV.