An Empirical Study on a Broadcasted Health Program on TV and Program’s Instagram Interaction Communication

The advancements in informatics and internet technology have affected many other areas. Healthcare has become one of the fields that are most affected by these innovations and changes. This study falls within the scope of health communication and health literacy. The research is concerned with revealing the interaction communication between television health shows and their social media accounts from the perspective of the viewer. This study focuses on a television health show that has a role in spreading health information and that causes controversy in health communication. The aim of this study was to question the effectiveness of the use of the Instagram account of the television show in terms of users/followers/viewers and in relation to the issues mentioned in the show. Accordingly, the study seeks an answer to the question “how do individuals use Instagram to ask questions about their own illnesses, seek solutions, and call for help” in relation to the issues mentioned in the television health show. The correlation between the television show and its social media account is examined. The television program named “Zahide Yetiş’le” is chosen for the purpose of this study, which is a popular Turkish broadcast on “Show TV” channel in the Turkish media, with a high rating among the health programs. Following the theoretical framework of the Uses and Gratifications Theory, the study conducted a face-to-face questionnaire to determine what the viewers was affected by while watching television health show and what they gained from watching it. The lack of health programs of this kind in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus television broadcasts is a limitation to this study besides the pandemic situation in the due course of this inquiry. A quantitative research method was applied to 353 samples living in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus, aged 18-65 years, who had an Instagram account, and watched the show "Zahide Yetiş’le". The results indicate that individuals watch television health shows to obtain health information, and they follow the social media accounts of these shows to see what will happen in the next episode. In addition, it was revealed that the social media account of the show was supportive in forming motivation in individuals to watch the television show and that the participants interacted with the social media account to comment and ask questions about their and/or relative's illnesses, share their satisfaction with the guest doctor or the mentioned treatment method, and ask confidential questions through the direct message feature. According to the findings, the participants did not prefer to watch television health program for information or assistance regarding health issues before applying to a health institution or a doctor. There was no significant correlation between individuals who have to regularly take medication and treatment and healthy individuals in terms of the frequency of watching television health programs and interacting on their social media accounts. Additionally, social media networks belonging to health shows on TV do not have a high level of contribution to interpersonal communication. Keywords: Health Literacy, Health Communication, Public Health, Social Media