Abstract
Background: Health professionals’ knowledge is key to aid in the design of public policies to address child development issues. Behavioral Insights (BI), also known as “nudges”, can greatly contribute to tackle these concerns as they draw upon behavioral sciences to improve the design of public policies. However, little is yet known about health professionals’ knowledge of BI methods in childhood policies. In the present study we investigate the opinions of childhood health experts on the use of BI in Latin American and the Caribbean countries (LACs), and test the influence of nudges on the effect of a communication of a simulated public health program. Methods: We developed a survey and an intervention to test the hypotheses. We used regression models analyzing expertise-related information, individual differences and location. Our participants were professionals working on child development across LACs (n= 2003) who completed the survey in an online platform. We obtained several outcome variables: (a) ‘public policy knowledge Index’ (PPKI) and (b) BI knowledge, perceived effectiveness, usefulness, and the ‘behavioral insights knowledge Index’(BIKI) (c) Perceived clarity, impact and interest in the simulated public program. Findings: Health professionals showed low BI knowledge (Knowledge of the term BI: (X2 = 210·29 df = 1, p < ·001), BIKI: (X2 = 160·5 df = 1, p < ·001)) and results were modulated by age, academic formation, PPKI and location. The use of BI principles in the program revealed higher impact (df = 3, F value = 12·97, p < ·001) and clarity ratings (df = 3, F value = 8·30, p < ·001) from professionals than control messages. Interpretation: Our findings provide relevant knowledge about BI in health professionals to inform governmental and NGOs decision making processes related with childhood public policies. Funding Statement: This work was partially supported by IntraMed, Alzheimer’s Association GBHI ALZ UK-20-639295; NIH-NIA R01 AG057234, and the Interamerican Development Bank. Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: Participants gave informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki by pressing an “I agree” button after an explanatory letter. The institutional ethics committee approved the study.
Published Version
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