Fresh Start Experiment

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hypertension; Diabetes

Treatments: Behavioral: Fresh start; Behavioral: Fresh start framing; Behavioral: Reminder

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02411032

820768

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators are proposing an experiment to help Humana investigate when to launch programs or send messages that are designed to improve customers' engagement. The investigators' past research has shown that certain life events and calendar events (e.g., a job change, a birthday, a holiday, Monday) feel like a "fresh start" to people and have the potential to motivate them to begin pursuing their health goals (e.g., exercising, starting a diet, quitting smoking).

Full description

The investigators are proposing an experiment to help Humana investigate when to launch programs or send messages that are designed to improve customers' engagement. The investigators' past research has shown that certain life events and calendar events (e.g., a job change, a birthday, a holiday, Monday) feel like a "fresh start" to people and have the potential to motivate them to begin pursuing their health goals (e.g., exercising, starting a diet, quitting smoking). In this experiment, the investigators will test (a) whether Humana can increase the effectiveness of its messages by sending them to customers around fresh starts moments and (b) whether highlighting a recent fresh start event in Humana's messages can further increase customer engagement.

Enrollment: 13,323 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• customers of our insurance company partner

Exclusion criteria

• none

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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13,323 participants in 5 patient groups

Reminder control

Experimental group

Description:

Customers receive a mailing on a random day, which does not coincide with any of the predictable fresh start events.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Reminder

Birthday framed

Experimental group

Description:

Customers receive a mailing on the most recent Wednesday before the customers' birthday, and the mailing frames the customers' birthday by emphasizing a fresh start associated with the customers' birthday.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Fresh start

Behavioral: Fresh start framing

New Year's framed

Experimental group

Description:

Customers receive a mailing on 1/21/15, and the mailing frames the customers' birthday by emphasizing a fresh start associated with the customers' birthday.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Fresh start

Behavioral: Fresh start framing

Birthday un-framed

Experimental group

Description:

Customers receive a mailing on the most recent Wednesday before the customers' birthday, but the mailing does not frame the customers' birthday.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Fresh start

New Year's un-framed

Experimental group

Description:

Customers receive a mailing on 1/21/15, but the mailing does not frame New Year's.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Fresh start