Grey's Anatomy episode may have increased awareness of sexual assault hotline

Tweets and Google searches on 'rape', 'sexual assault' and for a rape and sexual abuse hotline jumped considerably following a Grey's Anatomy episode about sexual assault, according to US research. The episode, which ended with actress Ellen Pompeo urging viewers to seek help, also provided the contact number for the hotline. The researchers say tweets mentioning the hotline's twitter account were 1,000 times higher than expected the following day, while Google searches also jumped. They say this indicates that there may be a role for media guidelines to standardise the inclusion of sexual assault hotline numbers.