Elderly cognitive health education slogans

The core logic of cognitive health education slogans suitable for the elderly is never to copy professional guides and shout slogans, but to be relevant to daily life, easy to remember, and address pain points. It is best to make the elderly willing to follow them after reading and listening. I have been doing cognitive health education for the elderly in the community for three years and have tried hundreds of slogans. The ones that really leave an impression and are useful are all not so "standard" vernacular. Instead, they are professional slogans such as "early screening and early intervention" that meet the standards. The elderly turn around and forget.

Oh, by the way, our group had argued about this several times before. Public health experts from universities insisted on standardizing the terminology, saying that "cognitive impairment" and "Alzheimer's disease" must be clearly mentioned in order to attract enough attention, and that popularization should not be used to eliminate the seriousness of the disease. But our front-line staff who spend time in the community every day are opposed. Last time, an uncle Wang was coming to receive a free cognitive screening form. When he heard our previous banner saying "Prevent Alzheimer's", he turned away and muttered "I'm not stupid, what are I doing with that thing" - the elderly are really more resistant to such words than we imagined. No matter how rigorous your slogan is, people won't even want to read it, so what's the use?

Later, we changed our approach and first made a batch of homely slogans, such as "Chat for 10 more minutes every day, your brain will be clearer and less confused." We posted them on the bulletin board at the door of the unit building. Within two weeks, there were several old people who were bored at home every day. I went to the community activity room to chat with my old friends. Last time I did the annual cognitive screening, there was an aunt Zhang whose score was 2 points higher than last year. She said that because of reading that slogan, she now invites her old sisters to play croquet every day, and no longer stays at home and watches TV all day.

We also deliberately create different content according to the posting scene. There is no unified slogan that is universally applicable. For example, the bulletin board next to the vegetable market posted "Make a small list when buying groceries, which saves money and trains your brain." When the old man went out to buy groceries, he just happened to see it, so he took out a small notebook and wrote down the names of two dishes, and he did cognitive training without knowing it. ； On the wall of the Senior Activity Center, there is a post saying "Play a game of chess and play cards. The more you use your brain, the more flexible your brain will become." It just matches their usual activities. No additional explanation is needed at all. It can be understood at a glance.

Another unexpected surprise is the trap-avoidance slogan we posted next to the express cabinet, "Don't believe in magic brain pills, walking and chatting are better than anything else." This is specifically to prevent those who deceive the elderly into buying health care products. Last month, Aunt Li came over to tell us that she had been persuaded by the salesperson and planned to buy a "brain fitness device" worth more than RMB 10,000. When she saw this sentence when she was picking up the express delivery, she remembered the class we taught before and refused on the spot, saving a lot of money.

Speaking of which, I made some mistakes when I first started this business. The first batch of slogans were all taken from the "Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Cognitive Impairment in the Elderly in China", which said "Early Detection, Early Diagnosis and Early Treatment of Cognitive Impairment." I posted them for two months. Nine out of ten elderly people I asked them said they didn't know what they meant. Another one thought it was about mental illness and was unwilling to touch it. Later, when I had nothing to do, I sat in the community pavilion and chatted with the elderly, asking them what they were most afraid of and what they listened to most. The revised slogans finally had an effect.

Of course, this does not mean that professional terminology cannot be used at all. If it is posted on the door of the cognitive screening clinic of social health, or in a leaflet for the elderly family members, we will still use accurate expressions, such as "mild cognitive impairment can be intervened, and early screening and early diagnosis will benefit greatly." After all, accurate information is more convincing to the elderly and family members who are willing to take the initiative to understand.

In fact, to put it bluntly, there is no standard answer to the propaganda slogans about cognitive health for the elderly. No matter how professional you are in the debate, it will all be in vain if the elderly cannot understand it and are unwilling to believe it. It is the best slogan to make people understand it and make them willing to follow it, even if it is just a loosely-organized vernacular sentence.