The Effect of Time-Slot Scheduling on Flu Vaccination Rates

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Seasonal Influenza

Treatments: Behavioral: Control; Behavioral: Planning Prompt; Behavioral: Default Appointment

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01206686

810589

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 50,000 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• seasonal influenza vaccine indications according to the CDC
• employees of partner corporations executing study

Exclusion criteria

• none

Trial design

50,000 participants in 5 patient groups

1 Hour Planning Prompt

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Planning Prompt

2 Hour Planning Prompt

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Planning Prompt

1 Day Planning Prompt

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Planning Prompt

Default Planning Prompt

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Default Appointment

Control

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control