Seasonal Influenza
Conditions
Keywords
seasonal influenza, behavioral economics, nudge, implementations intentions, vaccination
Brief summary
The goal of this project is to see if encouraging an individual to privately choose in advance a narrow time window in which to obtain a flu vaccination shot affects the likelihood that he or she will become vaccinated.
Detailed description
Influenza causes 36,000 U.S. deaths per year, but influenza immunization rates average just 28%. Behavioral nudges may increase the effectiveness of immunization reminder mailers at little or no added cost. Past psychology research has demonstrated that prompting people to form an implementation plan of the form, When situation x arises, I will implement response y, increases attainment of desired goals because the desired behavior is linked to a concrete future moment. We study whether adding a planning prompt to a vaccination reminder mailer increases immunization rates.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALPlanning Prompt
Patients were prompted to write down a planned date (and in some cases time) for receiving a flu shot.
BEHAVIORALDefault Appointment
Patients were given a suggested date and time for receiving a flu shot.
BEHAVIORALControl
Patients were provided with basic information (present in all conditions) about when and where they could receive a flu shot, but they were given no further treatment.
Sponsors
Harvard University
Yale University
Stanford University
University of Pennsylvania
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* seasonal influenza vaccine indications according to the CDC * employees of partner corporations executing study
Exclusion criteria
* none
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Receipt of seasonal influenza vaccination | up to 30 weeks |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed