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Fresh Start Experiment

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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02411032
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : April 8, 2015
Last Update Posted : May 3, 2017
Sponsor:
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Katherine Milkman, University of Pennsylvania

Study Description
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Brief Summary:
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).

Condition or disease Intervention/treatment Phase
Diabetes Hypertension Behavioral: Reminder Behavioral: Fresh start Behavioral: Fresh start framing Not Applicable

Detailed 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.
Study Design
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Study Type : Interventional  (Clinical Trial)
Actual Enrollment : 13323 participants
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary Purpose: Prevention
Official Title: Fresh Start Experiment
Study Start Date : April 2015
Actual Primary Completion Date : October 2015
Actual Study Completion Date : October 2015

Resource links provided by the National Library of Medicine


Arms and Interventions
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Arm Intervention/treatment
Experimental: Reminder control
Customers receive a mailing on a random day, which does not coincide with any of the predictable fresh start events.
 Behavioral: Reminder
Customer gets mailing that reminds them to take their medication.
Experimental: Birthday framed
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.
 Behavioral: Fresh start
Customers receive a mailing around a fresh start event: New Year's or birthday

Behavioral: Fresh start framing
The fresh start event will be highlighted in the mailings.
Experimental: New Year's framed
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.
 Behavioral: Fresh start
Customers receive a mailing around a fresh start event: New Year's or birthday

Behavioral: Fresh start framing
The fresh start event will be highlighted in the mailings.
Experimental: Birthday un-framed
Customers receive a mailing on the most recent Wednesday before the customers' birthday, but the mailing does not frame the customers' birthday.
 Behavioral: Fresh start
Customers receive a mailing around a fresh start event: New Year's or birthday
Experimental: New Year's un-framed
Customers receive a mailing on 1/21/15, but the mailing does not frame New Year's.
 Behavioral: Fresh start
Customers receive a mailing around a fresh start event: New Year's or birthday


Outcome Measures
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Primary Outcome Measures :
  1. Medication refills [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
    frequency of refilling medication


Secondary Outcome Measures :
  1. Hemoglobin A1C [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
  2. LDL cholesterol [ Time Frame: 6 months ]

Eligibility Criteria
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Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years and older   (Adult, Older Adult)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • customers of our insurance company partner

Exclusion Criteria:

  • none
Contacts and Locations
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Information from the National Library of Medicine

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT02411032


Locations
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United States, Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
Sponsors and Collaborators
University of Pennsylvania
Investigators
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Principal Investigator: Katherine Milkman, Ph.D University of Pennsylvania
More Information
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Responsible Party: Katherine Milkman, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02411032    
Other Study ID Numbers: 820768
First Posted: April 8, 2015    Key Record Dates
Last Update Posted: May 3, 2017
Last Verified: May 2017
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
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Hypertension
Vascular Diseases
Cardiovascular Diseases