Elderly cognitive health education slogans

After more than 120 publicity and education campaigns in 27 urban communities across the country over three years, it has been verified that cognitive health education slogans that can truly be seen, remembered, and practiced by the domestic elderly population must meet the standards of "no more than 15 words, words that are daily, relevant to daily life, and not difficult to do." Currently, the 12 universal slogans with the highest reuse rate and an awareness rate of 81% among the elderly are 72% more efficient than traditional medical terminology slogans.

When I first entered the field of cognitive education for the elderly, I encountered many pitfalls. The first batch of printed slogans were all taken from the guide, such as "Prevent cognitive impairment and improve brain health of all ages" and "Early screening, early diagnosis and early treatment of Alzheimer's disease". They were printed brightly and plastered all over the community bulletin board. Half a month later, 10 old people were randomly stopped to ask questions while they were sunbathing. 8 said they didn't know what they were talking about, and 2 said they looked like propaganda for a "weird disease" and they didn't dare to take a closer look.

At that time, there was a quarrel in the team. Public health experts from the university said that in order to maintain professional accuracy, the names of diseases must be clearly stated. The purpose of popularizing science is to eliminate the stigma. We cannot "fear the elderly to resist and not talk about serious matters."”； The old webmaster working in the community shook his head and said, if you post this slogan, the elderly will not even read it, so what's the use of being accurate? Both sides have their own reasons, so we simply found a community with a thousand people to do a controlled experiment. The 12 buildings were divided into two groups, half of which posted the professional version, and the other half posted the vernacular version that we worked together with the elderly in the community. According to statistics after half a month, the number of elderly people in the vernacular group who took the initiative to come to the post station to receive cognitive training manuals and sign up for free screening was more than 6 times that of the professional group.

For example, for daily protection, what we originally thought was "maintain social activities, persist in cognitive training, and delay cognitive decline." Later, when chatting with several uncles and aunties, what did Uncle Zhang mean by cognitive training? Does it count if I play chess with my old friend every day? Aunt Li said, does it count if I take my little granddaughter to recite Tang poems every day? We changed the slogan on the spot: "Play chess and cards with the grandchildren, walk around and chat without getting confused." The next day after we posted it at the door of the vegetable market, Brother Wang, who sells tofu, told us that two aunts were still chanting this sentence when they were shopping for groceries in the morning, saying that they should not rush home after playing mahjong and chat for half an hour before leaving.

It turned out that no one read the risk warning category, "Please seek medical attention promptly if you experience symptoms such as memory loss and disorientation." Not to mention the elderly, young people may not even know what "disorientation" is. What was it changed to later? “If he often forgets things, cannot find his home, or cannot remember old acquaintances, ask his children to accompany him to look it up.” Last year, an Aunt Chen saw this sentence in the elevator. She took her husband for a screening and was found to have mild cognitive impairment. After early intervention for more than half a year, she can now take the bus to go to the park by herself. Last month, she specially sent a jar of pickled sugar garlic to our inn, saying that it was thanks to this line of words that reminded her.

There is also the care category. The previous "Create a community friendly to people with cognitive disabilities and care for the elderly with cognitive disabilities" was changed to "help an elderly person who has forgotten things and help him call home." At the beginning of spring this year, an old man with mild cognitive impairment got lost in our district. The owner of the fruit shop next to him saw this slogan and stopped him for a long time to ask questions. He called his family and found him within 10 minutes.

Of course, there are still different voices in the academic circles. Some people say that such vernacular slogans are not rigorous enough, do not convey accurate medical knowledge, and may even mislead the elderly. But we did a one-year follow-up and found that 82% of the elderly who could remember "playing chess and chatting without getting confused" were able to do at least three social activities a week, and their brain health assessment scores were 11 points higher on average than those who didn't remember. ； On the contrary, 90% of those elderly people who can talk about the term "cognitive impairment" do not know how to prevent it. The core of education is to promote behavioral changes, and it is not to test the explanation of medical terms, right?

A few days ago, I went to patrol the community and saw the phrase "The more you use your brain, the smarter it will become. The more you talk, the more you won't be confused." A grandma was pointing and reading to her grandson in her arms. The child repeated it in a sweet voice. Finally, she raised her head and said to the grandma, "Grandma, you tell me stories every day, and you are definitely not confused." I stood watching and felt happier than if I had won any industry award.