Health promotion actions in mass-media for seniors in selected European countries

Abstract

Background: The main aim of the paper is to describe the role of mass-media as it pertains to health promotion for older people (HP4OP) in 10 selected European countries of the ProHealth 65+ project. This paper identifies, describes and analyses good practices in the mass-media sector to answer the questions of how active the media sector is in HP4OP and what kind of health promotion functions and activities are generally used by media institutions to communicate to older individuals about health related issues Methods: The paper is based on literature review of scientific papers and on analysis and evaluations of EU programmes and official reports and research studies focused on the impact of mass-media on health. The study for this paper also included documents describing realisations of mass-media initiatives, identified good practices in media in HP4OP and searches based on using PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Google and base CRODIS and in a very limited part through of experts and partners in project ProHealth 65+. Results: Analysis of the gathered data and good practises showed that the mass-media influencing knowledge, attitudes and behaviours about health related topics through activities directed at HP4OP. In practice, the mass-media as a sector is used in this process occasionally without consolidated strategies on the regional, national or European level which leads to difficulties in evaluating the real power of media in HP4OP. Conclusions: This paper has presented the significance and functions of media in societies as a tool of information and a source of education and raising awareness in the context of healthy ageing strategy in Europe. However, the sector of mass-media appears not to be used to its full potential in the HP4OP process. The conclusion can provide material for further discussion and finding solutions how to strengthen the engagement of mass-media in HP4OP.