In a recent presentation at the Brigham Young University Conference on Family Living, Professor Stephen F. Duncan talked at length about and showed clips from "Real Families, Real Answers," a new 13-episode documentary series produced by BYU.

"Real Families, Real Answers" first hit airwaves last fall on BYU-TV and KBYU. The series weaves together the experiences of actual families with commentary from leading experts in fields such as marriage and family health. Narrated by BYU alumnus Jane Clayson Johnson, the documentary is in its second run on those two stations. Beginning Sunday, April 5, all 13 episodes were offered to television stations nationwide as public service broadcasts.

According to Duncan, a professor at the BYU School of Family Life, the impetus for the "Real Families, Real Answers" project was a desire at the School of Family Life "to create a science-supported series that was friendly to principles for developing strong, healthy marriages and families articulated in 'The Family: A Proclamation to the World,' but (could) also attract a worldwide, interfaith audience."



Duncan offered several theories supporting the idea that the reality television medium can in fact play a positive role in informing and influencing the behavior of its viewers in an "infotainment" format.

"It is known from existing research that the mass media plays an important role in disseminating health information to the public, with television acting as the primary source of mass media in today's society," he said. "Television has been shown to have the capacity to change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, making it potentially one of the most powerful educational tools available."

The show's 13 episodes are:

• Strengthening Families, Part 1
• Strengthening Families, Part 2
• Protecting Family Time
• Managing Our Emotions
• Keeping a Marriage Strong, Part 1
• Keeping a Marriage Strong, Part 2
• Effective Parenting
• Parenting Teenagers
• Family Finances
• Strengthening Blended Families
• Successful Single Parenting
• Family Crucibles
• Avoiding and Overcoming Pornography
  

More information about "Real Families, Real Answers" is available at the show's Web site: www.realfamiliesrealanswers.org.

A programming schedule detailing dates and times specific episodes will be shown on KBYU and BYU-TV is available at www.kbyutv.org/rfra.


E-mail: jaskar@desnews.com