Exploratory Behavior, Intention
Conditions
Keywords
Curiosity, Intention, Follow Through
Brief summary
The investigators will work with one of Vitality's partner corporations to test whether curiosity can motivate employees to follow through on their virtuous intentions and complete their annual health risk assessment (VHR). Employees will receive email messages that contain either a curiosity-inducing question or a standard encouragement message. The investigators predict that presenting people with curiosity-arousing questions will make them more likely to complete a health risk assessment, as compared to standard messages.
Detailed description
The vast majority of adults express the desire and intention of engaging in healthy behaviors-exercising, losing weight, getting a colonoscopy-but then fail to do so. This has massive individual and societal costs. This research tests a promising intervention to increase the likelihood that an adult will follow through on their health-related intentions. Curiosity can be a powerful motivator and can cause people to engage in new behaviors (Tomkins 1962; Silvia 2006); however, curiosity has not yet been used as an intervention to help people follow-through on their intentions. In this project, the investigators target employees who have failed to complete their annual Vitality Health Review (VHR) and test whether curiosity can be used to induce the employees to complete their VHR. The VHR is a medical questionnaire that can help individuals understand medical risk factors they may be prone to. The investigators provide employees with a question and inform them that they will see the answer upon completion of their VHR. The investigators hypothesize that the curiosity-inducing messages will cause employees to follow through on their intention to complete their VHR.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALCuriosity Message
Participants will receive email messages that contain one of 8 curiosity-inducing questions. The message will tell participants that they will receive a message with the answer after they complete their VHR (health review that can be completed online).
BEHAVIORALStandard Message
Participants will receive email messages that contain standard language encouraging them to complete their VHRs (health review that can be completed online).
Sponsors
Harvard University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Employees at Vitality's partner's worksites that are in Vitality database * Must have email address on file
Exclusion criteria
* Employees that have already completed their VHR by June 11, 2013
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Completion of VHR | Measured one month after first message (July 12, 2013) | Whether the participant completes his/her VHR or not |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Previous VHR Completion during 2012-2013 | On or before July 12, 2013 | Whether employee completed their VHR the previous year |
| Social Atmosphere at Worksite | On or before August 12, 2013 | Measured by post-intervention survey with questions about how frequently employees at worksite interact and discuss non-work and Vitality-related matters |
| Curiosity Type | On or before July 12, 2013 | For participants who receive curiosity messages, indicates which curiosity message they received. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed