Open AccessThe Children of Risk Communication
Author(s) -
Leena Paakkari,
Orkan Okan
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.953
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1651-1905
pISSN - 1403-4948
DOI - 10.1177/14034948221110409
Subject(s) - pandemic , preventive action , risk communication , action (physics) , covid-19 , medicine , health communication , mental health , health education , call to action , psychology , public health , disease , environmental health , public relations , nursing , psychiatry , political science , business , computer security , infectious disease (medical specialty) , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , marketing , computer science
For the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, risk communication has been a much-needed preventive and educative action to support citizens - including children - to adopt preventive and health protective measures. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is not the only health concern at hand that has raised concerns about the health status of children and required disease-preventive strategies. Bearing in mind the mental health problems and learning losses reported during the pandemic, in this commentary, we will argue that by now, it is time to consider critically if there could be more space for positive communication and education, both alongside and as an integral part of risk communication, to help adolescents not just to survive but also to live the fullest possible life now and in the future. Otherwise, the adolescents of COVID-19 could become 'the children of risk communication' to the detriment of their health and well-being.