Nudges to Improve Health Behaviors That Limit COVID-19 Spread
Health Behavior, COVID-19
About this trial
This is an interventional prevention trial for Health Behavior
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age 18 years or older
- Provision of signed and dated informed consent form
- Willingness to comply with all study procedures and lifestyle considerations and availability for the duration of the study
- Has at least 1 risk factor associated with COVID-19 documented in their electronic medical record
- Followed by (i.e., actively receiving care) from targeted MCW specialties (Internal Medicine, OBGYN, Surgery)
- Access to necessary resources for participating in a technology-based activities (i.e., internet access + mobile phone or computer to complete online survey)
- Maintains a personal address where study materials can be shipped and where participant lives full time
Exclusion Criteria:
- Previous COVID-19 diagnosis or positive COVID-19 test result documented in their electronic medical record
- Current participation in another treatment or intervention study associated with COVID-19
- Previous documented Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder diagnosis in their electronic medical record
- Non-English speaker
- Patients hospitalized or incapacitated at onset of potential enrollment
- No access to electronic platform with internet (e.g., smartphone, tablet, computer)
Sites / Locations
- Medical College of Wisconsin
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Active Comparator
Experimental
Inertia
Anchoring
Participants simply receive and subsequently have "default" access (i.e., readily and immediately available) to handwashing (HW) materials. This condition will functionally serve as a control comparison. As the term implies, inertia capitalizes on minimizing effort necessary (e.g., going to the grocery store) to engage in HW behavior in one's personal environment.
Involves once again providing "default access" to HW materials as above, but adds an explicit written cue to wash hands at a rate of (15) times per day, which is placed directly on the soap dispenser. The stimulus is intended to deliberately prime participant thinking (and subsequent behavior) towards a higher reference point that "overshoots" a desired target rate of 10+ daily HWs.