Profs explore what pop culture fiction teaches us about health care

Turn on a television or computer on any given day, and you’ll find a range of works of fiction based on real life.

Take, for example, a show like Grey’s Anatomy, a medical drama set in an American hospital. Despite the fact that health-care systems in Canada and the United States differ greatly, the popular show has a large and loyal following in Canada.

“Even though Canadians of all ages routinely insist that health care and Medicare is a vital issue and helps define them as Canadians, there have been very few cultural portrayals of health care made by and for Canadians,” says Kaela Jubas, associate professor in the Werklund School of Education.

For many younger Canadian adults, the most powerful and complete images of health-care services might well be those in pop culture. The central question in Jubas’ current research asks how Canadians, who live with and value a particular health-care policy framework, hear and see images of health care produced in a country with a decidedly different approach.

Through a SSHRC grant, Jubas collaborated with the Faculty of Arts’ Dawn Johnston to talk to Canadian fans of the show between 18 and 30 in six western Canadian cities. Their research findings confirm that audience members do learn from television programs, and that often the learning is subconscious, and built on emotional identification with fictional characters and stories.

Participants in the research were reminded about the benefits of Canadian Medicare as they watched portrayals of American characters who could not afford private medical insurance. Jubas says many participants saw access to basic medical care as a fundamental human right. “Some even mentioned that watching Grey’s Anatomy helped them understand the heated debates in the U.S. about Obamacare, which was being rolled out while we were conducting some of our focus groups.”

As they wrap up their project, Jubas and Johnston are hosting a morning session on March 24, open to University of Calgary faculty members, sessional instructors, teaching assistants, and postdoctoral scholars. The no-cost event aims to mobilize the study’s findings among post-secondary educators, and will focus on the role that popular culture plays in university teaching and learning, especially about serious, difficult or sensitive issues.

“We’re especially excited to have two adult education scholars whose work in this area is well known join us for the event: Jennifer Sandlin from Arizona State University, and Christine Jarvis from the University of Huddersfield in the UK,” Jubas adds.

Jubas and Johnston ask those interested to register for the morning session on March 24.