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The Evidence: Two Peer-Reviewed Studies on “Vencer el Miedo”
Every night 3.5 million viewers in Mexico switched their televisions to Televisa’s channel two to watch Vencer el Miedo (“Overcome the Fear”). The 47-episode, award-winning show followed the stories of four women at different ages as they navigated life, love, and tough choices.
By the end of the series, viewers found themselves engaging in more conversations with family members and counselors about important issues like safe sex. OrientaSEX, a hotline operated by professional counselors, launched in partnership with the show. The hotline received a weekly average of 2,868 calls.
PMC’s partnership with Grupo Televisa on Vencer el Miedo (“Overcome the Fear”) produced not just a commercially successful telenovela — but two peer-reviewed studies demonstrating measurable impact on adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Mexico.
Study 1: BMC Public Health (2022)
Published in BMC Public Health, this study surveyed 1,640 adolescents (ages 12–19) and 820 parents across Mexico’s five most populated metropolitan zones after the show aired. The methodology used cross-sectional survey interviews with quotas for gender, zone, and viewership status, followed by multivariable logistic regression analysis.
Key findings among adolescents: viewers were significantly more likely to seek information about contraception (p<.001) and about unhealthy romantic relationships (p=.019), and to use contraception other than condoms (p=.027) and dual contraception (p=.042). Viewers also showed less negative attitudes toward contraception than non-viewers.
Key findings among parents: viewers were significantly more likely to have talked with their adolescent children about sexual relations (p<.001), contraceptive methods (p=.01), condoms (p=.002), and abstinence (p=.002). Parent-adolescent co-viewing was also significantly related to certain positive outcomes.
The study concluded that viewership of a high-quality entertainment-education telenovela informed by extensive formative research is related to improved adolescent health outcomes and parent-adolescent communication on a country-wide scale.
Study 2: Health Communication (2023)
Article Title: From Watching to Calling: Linking Variations in an Entertainment-Education Storyline with Calls to a Health Hotline.
Published in Health Communication, this study examined the relationship between specific narrative elements in Vencer el Miedo and calls to the OrientaSEX health hotline. The study addressed a gap in entertainment-education research: while most studies measure overall exposure effects, few examine how intrinsic message characteristics — the specifics of what happens in the story — drive subsequent behavior.
The study found that when the storyline featured transitional characters actively navigating reproductive health decisions, hotline calls increased. Female, partnered, and younger viewers showed the most pronounced response. This research contributes to the evidence base for how entertainment-education can be designed to maximize real-world impact.
Why this matters
Together, these studies represent a rigorous evidence package in the entertainment-education field for a single program. They demonstrate not just that the show worked, but how it worked — providing the kind of evidence base that funders, policymakers, and SRHR practitioners need to invest in narrative change as a public health strategy.
