Applying Design Thinking to identify strategies for enacting evidence-based policymaking supporting Standard Time

The transition from Standard Time (ST) to Daylight Saving Time (DST) is associated with health, safety, economic, and other risks, and there is broad public support to "do away" with the change. However, most legislators have proposed permanent DST (pDST), contrary to medical and scientific recommendations. There is an urgent need to garner public support for legislation that would enact permanent Standard Time (pST), not pDST.

We employed a method called Design Thinking to uncover opportunities to design public communication strategies that garner public opinion supporting pST. As a first step, we recruited a multidisciplinary group (n = 19) of individuals with diverse expertise (e.g., sleep/circadian rhythms, design, policy/legislation). Attendees gave talks on their area of expertise then broke into groups to discuss why pDST is viewed positively by the public and data informing the medical and scientific endorsement for pST over pDST. During each activity, participant wrote down their reactions on sticky notes. Sticky notes were analyzed qualitatively to identify the primary themes. Finally, participants were instructed to create news headlines declaring a hypothetical future event in which pST was enacted.

The reaction exercise generated 72 sticky notes. Themes regarding why pDST is viewed favorably included perception of longer days, social connections, freedom, and summer. Themes relating to the reasons pST should be preferred included better health and sleep, improved alertness, and learning/productivity. Participants identified potential 11 headlines, many of which emphasized health or cost savings associated with pST.

Design Thinking is an under-explored but effective tool for uncovering potential barriers and brainstorming approaches for engendering support of evidence-based pST legislation. Statement of Significance The transition from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time is associated with health, safety, economic, and other concerns. There is broad public support to "do away" with the clock change, but legislative efforts have proposed permanent Daylight Savings Time, which is contrary to medical and scientific society recommendations. There is an urgent need to garner public support for evidence-based clock time legislation, which would be for permanent Standard Time. We employed Design Thinking methodology with a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders, including sleep/circadian rhythms researchers, design experts, and policymakers. The results of the Design Thinking activities illuminated themes relating to the barriers to evidence-based clock time legislation, and opportunities for designing evidence-based slogans and messages.