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Published on: December 1, 2017
Using implementation intentions prompts to enhance influenza vaccination rates
Katherine L Milkman1, John Beshears, James J Choi
1Operations and Information Management Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. kmilkman@wharton.upenn.edu
Summary
Implementing specific prompts to plan vaccination dates and times significantly increased employee influenza vaccination rates. This simple intervention enhances public health outcomes in workplace settings.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Science
- Occupational Health
- Public Health Interventions
Background:
- Workplace vaccination programs aim to improve employee health and reduce disease transmission.
- Effective strategies are needed to increase participation in voluntary vaccination initiatives.
- Implementation intentions, or specific plans, can influence behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of implementation intention prompts on influenza vaccination receipt among employees.
- To compare the effectiveness of different levels of specificity in planning prompts.
Main Methods:
- A field experiment was conducted with employees of a large firm offering on-site influenza vaccination clinics.
- Participants received reminder mailings; treatment groups additionally received prompts to form implementation intentions (date only, or date and time).
- Vaccination rates were compared across control and treatment groups.
Main Results:
- The overall vaccination rate in the control group was 33.1%.
- Prompts to specify only the date resulted in a non-significant 1.5 percentage point increase in vaccination.
- Prompts to specify both date and time led to a statistically significant and meaningful 4.2 percentage point increase in vaccination rates.
Conclusions:
- Specific implementation intentions, particularly those detailing both date and time, significantly enhance behavioral outcomes like vaccination uptake.
- Workplace health interventions can be optimized by incorporating simple planning prompts.
- This strategy offers a low-cost, high-impact method for improving vaccination coverage.
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