Center for the study of community health
Educational Entertainment
The Beat HIVe
The Beat HIVe is a video series that provides HIV and sexual health education using local rappers and hip hop artists. Episodes include the musicians performing original material and discussing HIV-related topics with health experts. Performers were identified by emerging adults age 18–25.
Corrections
Corrections is a radio drama and podcast that was written, performed, and recorded at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama. The project has its roots in a prison lecture series coordinated by the UAB Office of Service Learning. It was funded by the UAB School of Public Health and personal donations through the UAB Crowdfunding office. In all, over 20 inmates worked with 3 faculty members and 2 doctoral students to write and perform the 8-episode series. The series focuses on health issues within the prison such as TB and Hepatitis C. Listeners hear how to prevent those illnesses as well as how to take care if infected. The health messages are embedded within a story with several intertwined storylines about inmates, corrections officers, and the conflicts that arise.
BodyLove
BodyLove is a radio soap opera, written and produced by the UAB School of Public Health, Department of Theatre, and Honors Program, that incorporates health education into an entertaining story. The 80 episode series features characters dealing with common chronic health issues (diabetes, hypertension, stress, and mental health) while trying to navigate personal relationships and was designed to target African American women over the age of 35. The radio drama promotes healthy behaviors such as disease management, health screening, exercise, and healthy eating. The drama revolves around characters who work and spend time at a fictitious Birmingham, Alabama, beauty salon named “BodyLove.” BodyLove centers on Vanessa Love, an African American woman in early middle age who is raising three children with little help from her husband, a recovering alcoholic. The salon is the family’s main source of income and Vanessa’s main source of stress. She knows she needs to manage her hypertension, but with her constant worries about her husband, the kinds of trouble her children can get into, and the pressures of running her own business, it’s never easy for Vanessa to keep her blood pressure under control. The characters make progress through modest lifestyle changes.
