Friends Can Be Good Medicine (California)
“Friends can be good medicine”
California Department of Mental Health public education campaign of the early 1980s that told people that supportive relationships protect health and encouraged them to strengthen ties with friends and family. It combined mass media with community activities.
- Years
- 1981–now
- Country
- United States
- Topic
- Mental health
- Asks people to
- StartTalk to someone
- Strategy
- Multi level communitySimple instruction
- Channel
- EventsPrintRadioTV
- Audience
- AdultsGeneral public
Evidence
ObservationalPositive
Panel of 340 adults in the Fresno media market, interviewed before, after and a year later: exposed people gained more in knowledge, attitudes, intentions and support-giving behavior than unexposed; in Fresno City, with the most community activity plus media, likely support-enhancing behavior rose from 42% to 59%, with no gain where exposure was media only (Hersey 1984).
Sponsor (who paid)
- California Department of Mental Health State local government, funder and creator
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Sources
- Hersey JC, Klibanoff LS, Lam DJ, Taylor RL. Promoting social support: the impact of California's 'Friends Can Be Good Medicine' campaign. Health Educ Q 1984;11(3):293-311 evaluation · 1984 · DOI 10.1177/109019818401100306 · PMID 6520008
Research notes
Created 2026-10-22 by OpenAlex literature mining (openalex-deep pass); evidence level, outcome and findings are paraphrased from the evaluation abstracts, full texts not read. No credits: no page naming an agency was checked. Start year 1981 and the sponsor are from secondary knowledge; a web search did not find a page confirming them (a San Jose State archive lists 1981 California Department of Mental Health posters but not this title). Confirm in Hersey 1984.
Record cases/ca-friends-can-be-good-medicine.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign