A Review of the MINDSPACE Framework for Nudging Health Promotion During Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- 1 August 2022
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc in Population Health Management
- Vol. 25 (4), 487-500
- https://doi.org/10.1089/pop.2021.0269
Abstract
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the link between individual behavior and public health, along with the importance of evidence-based efforts to promote prosocial individual behavior. Insights from behavioral science can inform the design of effective behavior change techniques, or nudges, to influence individual behavior. The MINDSPACE framework organizes 9 behavioral science principles that can be used to guide policy design: Messenger, Incentives, Norms, Defaults, Salience, Priming, Affect, Commitments, and Ego. Using MINDSPACE as an organizing framework, this article provides a review of the literature on nudges to influence prosocial behaviors relevant during a pandemic: handwashing, avoidance of social gatherings, self-isolation and social distancing, and sharing public health messages. Additionally, empirical evidence on the use of nudges during the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is summarized. Recommendations regarding the use of nudges to achieve public health policy goals during pandemics are provided. Organizational leaders, policymakers, and practitioners can use nudges to promote public health when mandates are not politically feasible or enforceable.Keywords
This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Role of Public Trust During PandemicsEuropean Psychologist, 2014
- Influencing behaviour: The mindspace wayJournal of Economic Psychology, 2012
- Seeking Better Health Care Outcomes: The Ethics of Using the “Nudge”American Journal of Bioethics, 2012
- Health Disparities and Health Equity: The Issue Is JusticeAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2011
- Threat(s) and conformity deconstructed: Perceived threat of infectious disease and its implications for conformist attitudes and behaviorEuropean Journal of Social Psychology, 2011
- Commitment and Behavior ChangeEnvironment and Behavior, 2011
- Demographic and attitudinal determinants of protective behaviours during a pandemic: A reviewBritish Journal of Health Psychology, 2010
- “Listen to the People”: Public Deliberation About Social Distancing Measures in a PandemicAmerican Journal of Bioethics, 2009
- Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happinessConstitutional Political Economy, 2008
- THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH POLICYAnnual Review of Public Health, 2006