A disease experience story and preventive health information seeking

Last registered on September 23, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
A disease experience story and preventive health information seeking
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011994
Initial registration date
August 27, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 04, 2023, 6:20 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
September 23, 2023, 9:11 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-08-23
End date
2023-09-04
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Preventive health information has become increasingly available and accessible in people's daily lives. However, given the abundant information people are exposed to daily, individuals with limited attention and who have been found to pay little attention to health risks and consequences may not seek out preventive health information in their daily lives. In this paper, I conduct a field experiment online in India to test an intervention that increases preventive health information seeking. In the intervention, respondents are presented with a disease experience story related to diabetes. I then measure preventive information seeking in a two-stage design that mimics daily information acquisition experiences.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Wang, Huan. 2023. "A disease experience story and preventive health information seeking." AEA RCT Registry. September 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11994-1.1
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2023-08-23
Intervention End Date
2023-09-04

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
There are two outcome variables measuring the seeking of preventive health information, whether they seek for self-related information on diabetes and spouse-related information on cervical or prostate cancer.

A second set of outcome variables measure their stated willingness to undertake health-seeking behaviours related to diabetes, such as diabetes testing, restricting sugar intake, and those not necessarily related to diabetes, such as exercising on most days and booking a physical examination.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Respondents in the treatment group listen to a story on an individual's experience of having diabetes. After introducing oneself, the individual starts by talking about how he/she was shocked by their diagnoses. He/she then discusses how having diabetes affects their career, everyday well-being, thoughts about the future and his/her family.

The story that the control group receives is about someone's experience of having lived in many cities and the factors he or she thinks determine a livable city.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomisation is done by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
1000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 treatment and 500 control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Melbourne Office of Research Ethics and Integrity
IRB Approval Date
2023-07-25
IRB Approval Number
2023-25983-42865-4
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials