Young People's Voices in Developing Messages on Brain Health: An Initiative to Promote Brain-Protective Lifestyle Habits Among Young Adults

Introduction

The work presented in this article was conducted as part of two European-funded projects (ADIS and Pattern-Cog) examining the topics of dementia risk reduction and timely diagnosis. Health messages promoting and educating people about brain health (defined by the World Health Organisation as the state of brain functioning across cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, behavioural and motor domains, allowing a person to realise their full potential over the life course, irrespective of the presence or absence of disorders) are beginning to appear in the public domain. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no campaigns specifically developed to inform, educate and promote brain health among young adults. This seems counterintuitive given the potential for prevention, particularly at this important transitional phase in a young person's life. This article reports feedback collected during consecutive four online and face-to-face Public Involvement (PI) consultations with nine young adults from Spain that focused on understanding their perspectives on dementia and brain health promotion messages. A subsequent aim was to describe how this informed the development of a brain health campaign. Approach: Notes from the consultations were summarised and organised using thematic analysis techniques. Meeting summaries informed the development of a brain health campaign targeting young adults in Spain-'Yo Me Celebro'. The campaign was developed in a partnership approach with the young adults.