Developing Games for Health Behavior Change: Getting Started
MARS - Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) - Mobile health app engagement, functionality, aesthetics, and information quality
For review, “dark testing” is A/B testing on Facebook conducted by 1) building multiple variations of a single post by adjusting the message, thumbnail, image, etc., 2) serving these variations to different, similar audiences, and 3) measuring performance and designating a “winner.”
The amount and nature of value in a particular product or service always lie in the eye of the beholder, of course. Yet universal building blocks of value do exist, creating opportunities for companies to improve their performance in current markets or break into new ones. A rigorous model of consumer value allows a company to come up with new combinations of value that its products and services could deliver. The right combinations, our analysis shows, pay off in stronger customer loyalty, greater consumer willingness to try a particular brand, and sustained revenue growth. We have identified 30 “elements of value”—fundamental attributes in their most essential and discrete forms. These elements fall into four categories: functional, emotional, life changing, and social impact. Some elements are more inwardly focused, primarily addressing consumers’ personal needs. For example, the life-changing element motivation is at the core of Fitbit’s exercise-tracking products. Others are outwardly focused, helping customers interact in or navigate the external world. The functional element organizes is central to The Container Store and Intuit’s TurboTax, because both help consumers deal with complexities in their world.
Max Bazerman, co-director of the Center for Public Leadership; Odette van de Riet, Leader of BIT IenM, the Behavioral Insight Team of the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment; and David Halpern, Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team and Board Director of the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, joined moderator Iris Bohnet, Professor of Public Policy at HKS and Director of the Women and Public Policy Program, and co-Director of the Behavioral Insights Group, in a conversation on behavioral insights. The panel discussed its experiences applying behavioral economics findings, such as "nudge" techniques, to issues of public interest.
Underpinned by reinforcement learning, a fundamental theory of the dynamics of behavior change, BCD also incorporates theories about the evolution of behavioral control and human motivation, and a revised version of 'behavior settings' theory which helps explain the relationship between individuals and the environment. These theories suggest that, in order to change specific behaviors, interventions must create surprise, revalue the target behavior and facilitate performance of the changed behavior by modifying the environment in which it takes place. BCD involves a process for designing such interventions that follows five steps: Assess, Build, Create, Deliver, and Evaluate.
BIT uses a simple framework to apply behavioral science to policy: in order to encourage a behavior, make it Easy, Attractive, Social, and Timely (EAST). The sections below give some examples of how this framework can be applied to improve health and health care. Many of these initiatives were tested through low-cost randomized controlled trials; we believe that such trials could be used much more by health care providers and policymakers to improve their everyday activities.
From Brian Cugelman
