Sandra de Castro Buffington
Sandra de Castro Buffington is a filmmaker and pioneering force in entertainment for social impact. As Co-Producer of the award winning film “Brainwashed: Sex~Camera~Power,” President of StoryAction, LLC, and Founder of UCLA’s Global Media Center for Social Impact, Sandra infuses television, movies, and new media with socially provocative storylines to improve health and well-being worldwide. She creates storylines that have profound impact on knowledge and behavior. Her groundbreaking work resulted in 565 health storylines that aired on 91 television shows across 35 networks in the span of three years. Sandra’s research maps the pro-social content in top TV shows and measures the impact of storylines on viewers’ knowledge, attitudes and behavior.
Rosenthal, E.L., Sandra de Castro Buffington & Galen Cole (2018). "From the small screen to breast cancer screening: examining the effects of a television storyline on awareness of genetic risk factors", Journal of Communication in Healthcare, DOI: 10.1080/17538068.2018.1438766
Kinsler, Janni J., Deborah C. Glik, Sandra de Castro Buffington, Hannah Malan, Carsten Nadjat-Haiem, Nicole Wainwright, Erik Pena, Melissa Papp-Green (2018). Pushing A Content Analysis of How Sexual Behavior and Reproductive Health are Being Portrayed on Primetime Television Shows Being Watched by Teens and Young Adults, Health Communication, DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2018.1431020
Husein, Evrold N., May G. Kennedy, Sandra de Castro Buffington. Book Chapter 5,“Two Health Communication Approaches: Communication for Behavioral Impact and Entertainment Education.” (2016). Rick Zimmerman, Ralph Diclemente, Jon Andrus, Everold Husein (Ed.), Introduction to Global Health Promotion, Society for Health Education, Jossey-Bass, pp 99-128.
Murphy, S.T., Hether, H.J., Felt, L., & Buffington, S. (2012). Public Diplomacy in Prime Time: Exploring the Potential of Entertainment Education in International Public Diplomacy. American Journal of Media Psychology, 5, 5-32.
Murphy, S.T., Hether, H.J., Frank, L.B., de Castro Buffington, S., Báezconde-Garbanati, L.A. (under review). Preventing Cancer in Primetime: Using Entertainment Education to Promote Cancer Prevention among Underserved Latinas. Journal of Cancer Education.
Pariera KL, Hether HJ, Murphy ST, de Castro Buffington S, Baezconde-Garbanati, L; Portrayals of Reproductive and Sexual Health on Prime-Time Television. Health Communication (2013). View in: PubMed.
Okamoto, J., Buffington, S.C., Cloum, H.M., Mendenhall, B.M., Toboni, M., and Valente, T.W. (February, 2011), The Influence of Health Knowledge in Shaping Political Priorities: Exploring HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Global Health, and Domestic Concerns. Global Public Health, 6, 8, 830-842.
Buffington, S.C. (2011) “Entertainment Education: Working with Hollywood to Improve Public Health”. Essentials of Public Health Communication. The American Public Health Association Press, 216.
Lapsansky, C., Schuh, J.S., Movius, L., Cody, M.J., Woodley, P., & Buffington, S.C. (2010) "Evaluating the “Baby Jack” Storyline on The Bold and the Beautiful: Making a Case for Bone Marrow Donations." Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing, 4, 8-27.
Nahm, S., Le, K., Buffington, S.C., Schiman, N., Raider, S., & Resko, S. (2010) Engaging Youth through Entertainment Education, Partnership and Collaboration. Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing. 4: 57-78.
Buffington, S.C., Hang, R., Valente, T.W. (2010). Impact of a TV Health Storyline about Measles and the MMR Vaccine on Viewers’ Knowledge and Attitudes. In preparation.
Le-Backes, K., Cantu, M., Huang, G.C., Buffington, S., Brandon, V., Miller, M., Wang, B.H., Nahm, S. (2008). Reaching the New Media Generation through Entertainment Education: Internet information seeking behaviors of TV medical drama viewers. Submitted for publication.
Kincaid DL, Merritt A.P., Nickerson L., Buffington S.C., Castro M.P., Castro, B.M. (2002). “Impact of a Mass Media Vasectomy Promotion Campaign in Brazil”, Robert C. Hornik, (Ed.), Public Health Communication: Evidence for Behavior Change. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 179-195.
Kincaid DL, Merritt AP, Nickerson L, Buffington SC, Castro MP, Castro BM. (1996). “The Mass-Media Vasectomy Promotion Campaign in Brazil: Impact on Clinic Inquiries, Attendance and Performance.” International Family Planning Perspectives. 22: 4.
Buffington, S.C. (1995) “A Framework for Establishing Integrated Reproductive Health Training.” Advances in Contraception. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 11:17–324.
Gaffikin, L., Prada E., Santamaria, A., McGrath, J., Buffington, S.C. (1995) “Institutionalizing Fertility Management/Human Sexuality Training in Colombian Nursing Schools.” Advances in Contraception. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 11:317–324.