Lottery Incentive Nudges to Increase Influenza Vaccinations

Summary

In the current study, the study team will explore whether small incentives are effective at promoting flu vaccine uptake. The study is designed to compare the relative efficacy of incentives of equal perceived expected value (EV) or equal implementation costs, to assess whether people are more likely to get vaccinated in response to lotteries with very high payoffs than to small certain cash payout or slightly higher-probability, more moderate payoffs. In particular, given the potential appeal of official state lottery tickets, one study arm will receive a Pennsylvania scratch-off lottery ticket for getting a flu vaccine. A primary hypothesis is that lotteries will outperform simple reminders (encouraging respondents to get the flu shot at their upcoming appointment) and the standard of care, representing the ambient healthcare system and public health campaigns to increase vaccination.

Conditions

• Influenza
• Vaccination
• Health Promotion
• Health Behavior

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Reminder

Letter, short message service (SMS) text, phone, and/or email

BEHAVIORAL

Financial incentive

Letter, SMS, phone, and/or email

BEHAVIORAL

Lottery

Letter, SMS, phone, and/or email

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Geisinger Clinic

  collaborator OTHER

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Michelle N Meyer, PhD JD · Geisinger Clinic

• Christopher F Chabris, PhD · Geisinger Clinic

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-09-04

Primary Completion

2021-12-31

Completion

2022-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations