The impact of health risk communication on self-perceived health and worry of targeted groups: Lessons from the Swedish COVID-19 response.
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Rickardsson J, Mellander C
PLoS One 20 (1) e0311596
[2025-01-17; online 2025-01-17]
The Swedish COVID-19 strategy aimed to protect vulnerable groups through targeted measures, categorizing individuals aged 70 and above as high-risk. This study examines the impact of such group-based risk assessments on subjective health and virus-related concerns among older adults. We analyzed survey data from the SOM Institute for 68- to 71-year-olds in 2019 (N = 684) and 2020 (N = 726). Using ordered logit regression, we compared perceived health and virus-related concerns between individuals just below (68-69 years) and just above (70-71 years) the high-risk age threshold, controlling for demographic factors. In 2020, 70-year-olds reported significantly lower perceived health compared to their 69-year-old peers, a difference not observed in 2019. Furthermore, 70-year-olds exhibited significantly higher virus-related concerns than their slightly younger counterparts. These patterns persisted when expanding the analysis to include individuals aged 68 and 71. Our findings suggest that the Swedish COVID-19 strategy, while aimed at protecting individuals aged 70 and over, may have inadvertently increased perceived vulnerability and health concerns within this group. Conversely, those just below the high-risk age threshold reported better health and lower virus-related concerns, highlighting potential unintended psychological consequences of age-based risk communication.
Category: Social Science & Humanities
PubMed 39823468
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0311596
Crossref 10.1371/journal.pone.0311596
pmc: PMC11741659
pii: PONE-D-24-00925