Light-touch Interventions Research Articles

Happy thoughts: Enhancing well-being in the classroom with a positive events diary

Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) are effective in increasing well-being across the population. Whilst educators are recognising the importance of well-being in the classroom and of its long-term impact on life trajectory, the transformative potential of PPIs in educational settings is yet to be fully realised. This study investigates, for the first time, the effects of a PPI in school children by means of a daily dairy. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure well-being in school children aged 8–11 years. Across two studies, children kept a positive events diary, recording three experiences every day for a week. The intervention led to an increase in happiness and a decrease in depressive symptoms immediately following the intervention and at a three-month follow-up. Children who had unhappier baseline scores benefitted more from the intervention. This study demonstrates significant scope, in school settings, for targeted light-touch interventions to promote well-being in those with the greatest need.

Medicare Letters To Curb Overprescribing Of Controlled Substances Had No Detectable Effect On Providers

Inappropriate prescribing is a rising threat to the health of Medicare beneficiaries and a drain on Medicare's finances. In this study we used a randomized controlled trial approach to evaluate a low-cost, light-touch intervention aimed at reducing the inappropriate provision of Schedule II controlled substances in the Medicare Part D program. Potential overprescribers were sent a letter explaining that their practice patterns were highly unlike those of their peers. Using rich administrative data, we were unable to detect an effect of these letters on prescribing. We describe ongoing efforts to build on this null result with alternative interventions. Learning about the potential of light-touch interventions, both effective and ineffective, will help produce a better toolkit for policy makers to improve the value and safety of health care.

Empowering and Inviting Parents of College Students with Actionable Mail: A Randomized Controlled Experiment at a Four-Year Public University

Inviting and empowering parents via low-cost, light-touch mail-based interventions can have large effects in K-12 schools; we implement a similar intervention to increase second-year retention at a public four-year university. We find that the treatment did not noticeably affect second year retention rate or student academic performance, though the intervention may have changed parental beliefs in promising ways. In order for similar projects to be effective, we recommend that they target the parents of students who are academically qualified to return for their second year; focus the intervention on the spring and summer semesters before second year; communicate content that is exclusively relevant to re-enrollment to deliver focal messaging before parents habituate to the mailings; and, ideally, increase sample size by facilitating consent procedures consistent with FERPA regulations.

Parties Are No Civic Charities: Campaigns, Demobilization, and the Changing Composition of the Electorate

In contrast to non-partisan GOTV campaigns, political parties do not aim to increase turnout across the board. Instead, their principal goal is to affect the outcome of an election in their favour. This paper uses a randomized field experiment to test the effects of Conservative Party door-to-door canvassing and leafleting on the turnout of registered voters who support different parties in an English Parliamentary constituency during the 2014 European Elections. Using commonly-used light-touch campaign interventions, randomly assigned leaflets and door-knocks changed the composition of the electorate in favour of the Conservative Party, by decreasing turnout overall. Increasing turnout among Conservative and unattached voters went hand-in-hand with decreasing turnout among supporters of rival parties such as Labour. Moreover, in contrast to the non-partisan GOTV literature, we show that partisan door-knocks did not affect the composition of the electorate over and above what we would expect from impersonal campaign leaflets alone. We conclude that the campaign tactic of contacting supporters, opponents and unattached voters alike, was very effective as a campaign tactic, but had negative effects on political participation.