Fresh Start Experiment

May 2, 2017 updated by: Katherine Milkman, University of Pennsylvania
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).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

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 Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

13323

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • University of Pennsylvania

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • customers of our insurance company partner

Exclusion Criteria:

  • none

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / 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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Medication refills
Time Frame: 6 months
frequency of refilling medication
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Hemoglobin A1C
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months
LDL cholesterol
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Pennsylvania

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Katherine Milkman, Ph.D, University of Pennsylvania

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 3, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 7, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

April 8, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 3, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 2, 2017

Last Verified

May 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 820768

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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