Changing Health Behavior with Behavioral Science

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Ever wonder why people don’t do what they think they should do? Why don’t we eat healthier or exercise regularly when we know it can extend our lifespan? Why doesn’t merely knowing that something is good for us make us perform the desired behavior?

One of our healthcare clients turned to behavioral science to understand precisely this. Our client wanted to understand how they could close gaps in care for their patients across a number of cares by leveraging validated and peer-reviewed research in behavior change. The challenge they were facing was their patients were not performing desired behaviors such as taking their medication or getting preventative care even when they were reminded.  

Working with the clients, we decided to conduct in-depth interviews with their patients across different cares to get a deeper and first-hand understanding of patients’ barriers to getting preventative care and taking medication. Alongside a market research partner, we worked to draft a discussion guide that takes into account of various behavioral science factors, such as their motivations, context, and System 1 and System 2 decision-making strategies that go into patients’ desires to adhere to the care plan.

Coming out of the in-depth interviews, our team of behavioral scientists identified the different mindsets patients were in, different types of barriers that hindered adhering to the care plan, the presence (or lack) of behavioral cues, and any rewards or consequences associated with the behavior. We then created a behavior change model personalized to our client that was rooted in the behavioral science literature where we were able to map all of the factors involved in the likelihood of adhering to the care plan and provide recommendations to encourage their patients to regularly take their medication and to get preventative tests.

Here were some of the insights:

Cues—Signals that occur at the right time and at the right moment to perform a behavior.

This included:

  • Alarms and reminders to take medication

  • Keeping medication somewhere visible and somewhere they frequent

  • Mail reminders to schedule their next preventative test

Motivation—An internal or external desire to perform a behavior or to achieve a goal.

This included:

  • Intrinsic motivation to be a good patient and be there for their family

  • A lack of motivation due to perceived susceptibility of the disease

  • A lack of motivation due to perceived efficacy of preventative testing

Barriers—Obstacles that prevent a behavior which can be psychological, logistical, physical, etc.

This included:

  • A lack of knowledge of cadence of preventative testing

  • Anticipated physical pain or discomfort from getting a preventative test or taking medication

  • Anticipated psychological distress from receiving bad news

It’s important to note that Cues, Motivation, and Barriers can interact with each other and affect the strength of one another. For example, if someone is more motivated to perform a behavior or achieve a goal, they may more easily recognize different cues to the behavior.

Most of the time, performing a behavior leads to a reward.

Rewards—A positive or negative outcome associated with the behavior.

  • Physical pain of preventative tests

  • Perceived excess exposure to radiation

  • A general lack of immediate, positive rewards for getting preventative testing and taking medication

By organizing behavior and mapping behavior change this way, we were able to provide recommendations to the client under each of the different components in the model.

Our sample recommendations to the Marketing Team:

  • To create better cues for preventative tests, we recommended that patients attach a memorable and specific date around them.

  • To increase motivation, we recommended specific messaging to increase patients’ psychological empowerment.

  • To decrease some of the psychological barriers (e.g., fear and anxiety), we recommended reframing language around risk to avoid mentions of death and instead focusing on how taking their medication regularly and getting preventative tests to speak to their motivation around being a good patient and there for their family. 

With the proposed recommendations clearly mapped out by the different components, the client was easily able to assess which changes would be the most feasible and impactful for their patients in their marketing communications. This behavior change model now serves as a fundamental framework of health behavior change for our clients.

If you’re looking to change behavior through tactics that are backed by rigorous behavioral science research, don’t hesitate to reach out!