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Study finds behaviourally informed chatbot triples vaccine uptake

Press release 18th Oct 2024

LONDON, 18 October 2024 – A team of international researchers co-led by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) and Argentina’s Behavioural Insights and Public Policy Unit, has found that a behaviourally-informed chatbot more than tripled COVID-19 vaccine uptake compared to a control group. 

The findings are published in Nature Human Behaviour and are based on a large-scale study involving 250,000 participants in Chaco, a province in northeast Argentina. The research was conducted with Argentina’s Behavioural Insight Unit, the Chaco Ministry for Health and technology business ECOM.

Participants were randomly assigned into three groups: no message or intervention; a single, one-way message via WhatsApp; and an interactive WhatsApp chatbot. The chatbot nearly doubled uptake compared to the one-way message and more than tripled uptake compared to the ‘no message’ control group.

The province of Chaco was chosen due to the fact that its population experiences high levels of disadvantage, which is a characteristic that typically impedes public health measures such as vaccine uptake. Health authorities in Chaco had also expressed a strong interest in testing new ways to address the low uptake of booster shots.

Before the project launched, just 33% of the eligible population in Chaco had received a booster dose to protect against COVID-19, compared with 91% in the capital, Buenos Aires.

The study involved 83,235 participants in each trial arm. In the chatbot group, 1,882 individuals received their next vaccine dose within the four-week observation period – 1,300 more vaccinations than were observed in the control group. 

The control group, who saw no message, had a vaccination rate of 0.70% during the trial period. Participants in the chatbot group saw a 1.56 percentage point increase in the number of boosters. This change in vaccination behaviours is causally linked to having received a chatbot message, a cost-effective approach even in a context of low overall demand for vaccination. 

Adelaida Barrera, Senior Advisor at the Behavioural Insights Team, said:

“These findings are especially significant in the context of low demand for vaccinations and the learnings are applicable globally. Engagement with public health remains a consistent challenge in many communities. With this study we show that behaviourally-informed chatbots can make a significant difference in low-demand environments. Just as promising is the capacity to roll out this tool in a high-demand context such as an epidemic.”

Professor Iván Budassi, at Universidad Nacional Sur, Bahía Blanca, said:

“Our research shows that complementing traditional public policies with behavioural science tools can be very effective, especially in contexts affected by structural poverty. This example can stimulate developing countries to pay attention to the use of cost-effective behavioural tools, and to promote information management policies that allow their application and the measurement of results.”

The study’s findings have significant implications for public health beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers suggest that similar chatbots could be developed to promote other health behaviours that require navigating complex user journeys, particularly those involving in-person consultations. These include routine vaccinations, cancer screenings, or management of chronic conditions.

Notes to editors

For more information on the analysis or to speak to one of the experts involved, please contact Mark Byrne, Head of Media, on 020 7438 2576 or [email protected]. Authors are available for broadcast interviews. 

Authors

  • Dan Brown, Adelaida Barrera, Bridie Murphy, Pujen Shrestha, and Sebastian Salomon-Ballada – Behavioural Insights Team
  • Lucas Ibañez – ECOM Chaco S.A.
  • Iván Budassi – Universidad Nacional Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina
  • Jorge Kriscovich – Ministerio de Salud Pública de la Provincia de Chaco, Argentina.
  • Fernando Torrente – Universidad Favaloro and Fundación INECO

About the Behavioural Insights Team

BIT (the Behavioural Insights Team) is a global research and innovation consultancy which combines a deep understanding of human behaviour with evidence-led problem-solving to improve people’s lives. BIT works with all levels of government, nonprofits and the private sector, applying behavioural science expertise with robust evaluation and data to help clients achieve their goals. BIT has more than 200 staff, and operates from seven offices around the world. Together our staff provide unrivalled behavioural science expertise, amassed through the delivery of more than 1,700 projects across hundreds of countries. 

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