Climate News 25:19
As summer approaches, local governments are preparing their communications aimed at encouraging their communities to take care during days of extreme heat.
In particular, councils are seeking to encourage vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly to be aware of the dangers of extreme heat, prepare their homes and modify their behaviours during these periods. We influence the behaviour of children through their parents and carers, but we tend to think of the elderly as independent and likely to draw on the same communications channels as the rest of the community. An Austrian study has shown that they may be better ways to get messages across to older people, noting that they can be resistant to messages from people they don’t trust or don’t know. Two communication channels they do trust and know are healthcare providers and relatives. Elderly people have more regular contact with healthcare staff than the majority of the population and this often takes the form of repeat contacts. This builds a relationship based on trust in the expertise of the healthcare staff. So, messages about the health impacts of extreme heat coming from this source are more likely to be effective. The other communication channel that the study finds to be effective are relatives. Children and grandchildren of the elderly can deliver messages about how to behave during extreme heat within a framing of caring and concern. These findings suggest that local governments may be better off targeting their heat communications not directly to the target audience of the elderly but rather to those communications channels through whom they engage. Councils could build from existing relationships they might have with healthcare workers, through home care services, or engage relatives in a campaign that builds on existing concerns they may have about their elders. It’s September, there’s still time to try something new.
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