A collection of slogans and contents for cognitive health education for the elderly

As a social worker who has worked in the community for four years to educate the elderly on the prevention and control of cognitive impairment, I directly released the content with high dissemination rate that everyone needs most, which has been verified through 27 missions in 12 urban communities and 8 county-level villages, and then dissected the corresponding applicable scenarios, practical details and different opinions in the industry.

Let me first mention that the core of all useful slogans is one: don’t make it full of professional words, let the elderly know at a glance what they are talking about and how it relates to them. I directly screened out empty talk like "preventing cognitive impairment and improving the quality of life of the elderly" for everyone. After posting the actual test for half a month, no one took a second look.

The most frequently used general model can be used to post on community bulletin boards, print folding pages, and make event background boards: "A poor memory is not a fool, and early treatment can slow down the decline." - After posting this in an old community in Haidian last year, the number of elderly people who took the initiative to come for cognitive screening increased by 30%. Many elderly people said that they always thought that forgetting things was a normal sign of age, and they were afraid of being called "hypocritical" when they went to the hospital, so they only dared to come for consultation after reading the slogan.

The messages for family members should be more poignant, and don't post to the elderly: "Don't be careless when the elderly forget things, and you will feel more at ease with cognitive screening every year." "Talking more with parents will slow down cognitive decline by half." Many early signs of cognitive impairment are discovered by family members first. When we do education, at least 40% of the content is for family members. This slogan is printed on the cover of the family foldout. Many children said that they took their parents for screening after reading it.

If you post it in a nursing home or cognitive impairment care area, you should be more gentle and don't poke the pain of the elderly: "It doesn't matter if you forget things, we will accompany you slowly." "Use your hands and brain more, and your life will be more lively." There was an organization before that posted a slogan "Get early to prevent dementia." Several elderly people complained that they "cursed me to get sick." After replacing the two above, there have been no problems. There are also dialect versions that are more effective than Mandarin, such as "Don't put it off if you have a bad memory, see a doctor early," which is commonly used in Shanghai communities, and "A poor memory does not mean you are an old fool, see a doctor early, and your decline will slow down" in the Cantonese area. The elderly look friendly and are much more receptive. There are also some scattered activities that I won't list one by one, such as "free cognitive test, feel more at ease" for free clinics, and "use your fingers to do crafts, cognitive decline will slow down" for handicraft activity banners. You can compile them along the lines of "colloquial, not scary, and speak human language". Ask two or three elderly people in the community in advance to ask if they can understand it. If there is no problem, you can use it.

After talking about the slogans that everyone is most concerned about, let’s talk about the supporting missionary content. In fact, the industry now has two mainstream directions for the focus of missions. There is no right or wrong, but the people they are suitable for are different. One is the "Early Screening Priority" group led by the Sixth Hospital of Peking University. It advocates that the core of education should first correct the misunderstanding that "being old and confused is normal aging", focusing on how to identify early signs: such as forgetting the words you just said, adding salt repeatedly when cooking, not being able to find your way home when you go out, and suddenly not being able to do things you used to do. They encourage the elderly to do a simple cognitive screening once a year. Check (the MoCA scale is commonly used, this professional term must be accurate and cannot be changed randomly). This direction is especially suitable for communities in cities with sufficient medical resources and where the elderly have the habit of regular physical examinations. When we were doing missionary work in communities in Beijing, the elderly participation in the content of early screening was particularly high, and many elderly people would take the initiative to ask where they could get screening.

There is also the "daily intervention first" group promoted by the China Association on Aging. They feel that many elderly people in the sinking market are resistant to going to the hospital and getting screened. The focus of the propaganda is on how to prevent it from three aspects: eating, moving and playing. You can get started without spending money: for example, eat 1 tael of nuts a day and walk 5 times a week for 30 minutes each time. Zhong, play more mahjong, play chess more, take care of your grandchildren more, and sit at home less and watch TV. Last year we did missionary work in a village in Heze, Shandong Province. When we talked about these contents, the interaction rate of the elderly in the audience was much higher than when we talked about early screening. After the show, an old man pulled me and asked, "Does playing mahjong for two hours a day count?" It was particularly interesting.

My own practical experience is that there is no need to stick to the content of a certain school, it is best to mix and match. Just like there was a controversial point before: when preaching, should we tell everyone that "cognitive impairment currently has no specific medicine and is irreversible"? One group believes that the truth must be told to prevent family members from having unrealistic hopes and being deceived into buying health care products. ； The other group thinks that the old man will panic if he talks too much and is unwilling to intervene. I usually rephrase it: "There is no cure yet, but early treatment and more attention can make the elderly feel much more comfortable and reduce the burden on the family." This takes into account both sides and is not too absolute.

Let me give you a real example. Last year, there was an Aunt Zhang in our community. She always forgot to turn off the ignition. Her children called her "an old fool" and she even quarreled with others. Later, when she saw the slogan on the bulletin board, she took the initiative to come to the service station to ask. We screened her for mild cognitive impairment and gave her a diagnosis. Weekly handicraft classes and memory training were scheduled, and her family members were asked not to correct her small mistakes all the time, but to just follow her words. Now, more than half a year later, she has rarely forgotten to turn off the fire. Her children said they didn’t know it was a disease before, and thought it was because the old man was throwing a tantrum.

In fact, missionary work is really not that complicated. Don’t always think of giving all the professional knowledge to the elderly. Just pick out words that they can understand and use. The slogans should be based on the tone of chatting with neighbors. It is much more useful than using a bunch of fancy words.