Evaluating the educational potential of health PSAs with preschoolers

Children learn from a variety of televised programs, including the short public service announcements (PSAs) that air between children's programs. PSAs are designed to repetitively expose children to important content ranging from the benefits of reading to health-related messages. The purpose of this study was to evaluate 5 PSAs containing health messages for preschoolers (i.e., nutrition, physical activity, and hand washing). Using an experimental framework, we examined children's ability to learn the messages and transfer that knowledge and apply it in novel situations. Child PSA viewers were able to recall more of the educational content, apply this knowledge to specific choices contained in each message, and transfer this knowledge to novel situations compared with their nonviewing counterparts. Implications are discussed.