NCT01206686

The Effect of Time-Slot Scheduling on Flu Vaccination Rates

Effect of Time-Slot Scheduling on Flu Vaccination Rates

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 50,000 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

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.

Detailed 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.

Conditions

• Seasonal Influenza

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Planning Prompt	Patients were prompted to write down a planned date (and in some cases time) for receiving a flu shot.
BEHAVIORAL	Default Appointment	Patients were given a suggested date and time for receiving a flu shot.
BEHAVIORAL	Control	Patients were provided with basic information (present in all conditions) about when and where they could receive a flu shot, but they were given no further treatment.

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-09-01
• Primary completion: 2012-07-01
• Completion: 2012-07-01
• First posted: 2010-09-22
• Last updated: 2016-08-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States