Cinema as a means of forming attitudes towards health

The article analyzes the theoretical and methodological grounds for the effectiveness of film content in changing socially significant human behavior in relation to health and to the problems of the healthcare system in general. Based on specific examples, the possibilities of the entertainment masses of the media and the film industry in solving public health problems are demonstrated. The main directions of the effective use of cinema in the field of public health are considered with the aim of changing social behavior as well as determining specific social actions in relation to health. The place and role of cinema as an integral part of the content of public health programs in history and modernity is explored. The inclusion of cinema, as well as other social media, in the arsenal of instruments of influence on public health is considered in a broader aspect as a consequence of the emerging gap and contradiction between science and society, theory and practice, knowledge, and social ideas about health. The range of public health problems is determined, for the solution of which the use of film content is considered effective: prevention and treatment of socially significant diseases, birth control, and treatment of addictions. The main theoretical and methodological approaches in the use of film content as a tool for changing behavior models and attitudes towards their health are described. The entertainment education approach developed on the basis of the theory of social learning is used as the main methodological tool. The analysis of specific television series developed on the basis of this methodology makes it possible to identify new directions in solving public health problems, in particular the sociocultural features of health attitude models. Prospects for the development of the studied methodology in the modern expanding space of entertainment media masses are outlined.