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The Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit, independent operating foundation that provides information and analysis on health-care issues to policymakers, journalists, the health-care community, and the general public.

Media Research

In 1997, the foundation (which is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries) launched a new program area to conduct original research on entertainment media and health, focusing especially on children and media. The foundation's work in this area primarily involves large-scale, nationally representative research, including regularly updated studies on media use among children and teens; content analyses of sexual messages on television; and national surveys of parents concerning children and media. The foundation takes no advocacy position on media-related policy issues; instead, it attempts to provide basic research to help inform the policymaking process, journalists, advocates, and parents. In addition, the foundation provides its research directly to the media industry, maintaining an ongoing dialogue with writers, producers, and executives. Whereas some of the foundation's media studies are published in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of the American Medical Association and Health Affairs, others are published and disseminated publicly by the foundation as a means of expediting the process and reaching a wider popular audience. The foundation is not a grant-making organization. Research is conceived and developed in house, and contracts are established with outside collaborators from universities or research firms.

Health Communication

The foundation also conducts extensive health communications campaigns for youth in partnership with media companies such as Viacom, MTV, BET, UPN, and Univision on HIV/AIDS prevention and other related topics. These Emmy award-winning, partnership-based campaigns have created a new model of health communication based on social marketing concepts. Under this model, Kaiser and the media company enter into an agreement in which Kaiser's contributions are issues research, briefings for writers and producers, substantive guidance on message development, and funds to support program production and informational resources. The media partner contributes creative and communications expertise, on-air programming, and guaranteed placement of public service ads and other content to reach target audiences. The campaigns include a combination of public service announcements (PSAs), full-length special programming, story lines in entertainment shows, and online content. Kaiser is now expanding this work globally by working with some of the largest media companies in the world to undertake new initiatives in Russia and India. In 1999, the foundation helped launch the loveLife program, South Africa's largest HIV prevention program for youth, which includes a highly visible, national, multimedia HIV education and awareness campaign along with on-the-ground services.

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