Emails Promoting COVID-19 Vaccination Among Healthcare Workers

Communication Clinical Trial

Official title:

Evaluation of an Email Intervention Promoting COVID-19 Vaccination Among Healthcare Workers

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04728594
• Other study ID #: 2021-0128
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 15, 2021
• Est. completion date: January 20, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: July 2021
• Source: Geisinger Clinic
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

In this evaluation, two versions of emails will be sent to Geisinger employees who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19. A delayed-contact control group will be emailed after a delay of at least two days. The researchers hypothesize that either of the emails - which use content informed by behavioral nudge theory - will lead to more COVID-19 vaccinations than the delayed-contact control group.

Description:

The researchers aim to evaluate the effectiveness of email reminders in promoting COVID-19 vaccinations among Geisinger employees. The project will compare two emails, which will vary in the subject line and email content. Both emails will test different approaches that draw from principles in behavioral science: social proof, reframing, and scarcity. Employees receiving these emails will be compared with employees in a delayed-contact group, who will not receive emails. Employees in the control group will later receive one of the emails.The responses to the emails will help determine the communications later sent to the control group.

All emails will ask recipients if they want to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. If they click on a hyperlink indicating yes, they will be forwarded to an online registration and scheduling homepage. If they click on a hyperlink indicating no, they will be forwarded to an online questionnaire surveying people about their main reason for declining the vaccine at this time. The questionnaire will automatically present information intended to assuage the specific concern that people endorse, followed by a hyperlink to the scheduling site.

The data will be analyzed with logistic regression models with the control group as the reference group, to compare the two email conditions versus the control group. This set of analyses will only be conducted for scheduling a vaccination appointment as opposed to email engagement outcomes (e.g., number of emails opened), which will not be applicable for the control group. A second set of logistic regression models predicting scheduling a vaccination appointment and email engagement will also be run, comparing the two email conditions against each other. The data will be examined two days later (to help decide which email to send to the delayed-control group) and four days later (when the policy for employee vaccination will change, making the content of the email irrelevant).

Update: The researchers looked at 3 days of data - as the emails to the delayed contact group were only sent at that time - and 4 days of data when the policy for employee vaccinations changed.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 9566
• Est. completion date: January 20, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: January 17, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Employees at Geisinger Health System who have not gotten a COVID-19 vaccination

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Communication
• Vaccination Refusal

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Social Proof
Email
• Reframing
Email
• Scarcity Message
Email

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Geisinger	Danville	Pennsylvania

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Geisinger Clinic

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Number of Employees Who Scheduled Vaccination Appointments Until Policy Change (4 Days)	Binary variable of a scheduled vaccination appointment up to the end of January 19, when new distribution policies were enacted.	4 days
Other	Number of Employees Who Opened Emails Until Policy Change (4 Days)	Binary variable indicating whether the employee opened the email up to the end of January 19, when new distribution policies were enacted.	4 days
Other	Number of Employees Who Clicked the Scheduling Link Until Policy Change (4 Days)	Binary variable indicating whether the employee clicked the link to schedule a vaccination appointment up to the end of January 19, when new distribution policies were enacted.	4 days
Primary	Number of Employees Who Scheduled Vaccination Appointments After 3 Days	Binary variable of a scheduled vaccination appointment 3 days after the emails were sent	3 days
Secondary	Number of Employees Who Opened Emails After 3 Days	Binary variable indicating whether the employee opened the email 3 days after the emails were sent	3 days
Secondary	Number of Employees Who Clicked Scheduling Links After 3 Days	Binary variable indicating whether the employee clicked the link to schedule a vaccination appointment 3 days after the emails were sent	3 days