Health Messages and Older Adults: A Closer Look at Sweden's COVID-19 Approach

Sweden took a unique path during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on protecting the most vulnerable. People aged 70 and over were designated as high-risk. But how did this strategy affect older adults' own feelings about their health and their worries about the virus? This study dives into that question, exploring the impact of these targeted health messages. Older adults were told they were at higher risk. But did this information make them feel more concerned about their health or the virus? The study found that, surprisingly, it didn't really change how they felt about their own health. However, it did make them more worried about the virus. This shows that health messages can have different effects on different aspects of people's feelings. It's important to consider how these messages are delivered. Telling people they're at risk can make them more worried, but it doesn't necessarily make them feel worse about their own health. This is a key lesson for health communicators. They need to think about what they want to achieve with their messages and how best to do that. This study is a reminder that health risk communication is complex. It's not just about giving information; it's about understanding how that information might be received and what it might do to people's feelings and behaviors.