The Healthy Nudge

March 2020

Welcome to The Healthy Nudge . Each month, we'll get you up to speed on the latest developments in policy-relevant health behavioral economics research at CHIBE. Want more frequent updates? Follow us on Twitter @PennCHIBE and visit our website .

Fear and the coronavirus

CHIBE faculty have been tapped to weigh in on the impact of COVID-19. Read recent media coverage involving some of our experts. Vice: Coronavirus will hit American hourly workers extra hard (Carolyn Cannuscio) WHYY: Fear and the coronavirus (Sudeep Bhatia) The Philadelphia Inquirer: Coronavirus has shut down schools and events. Here’s why that helps, short- and long-term. (Carolyn Cannuscio, Alison Buttenheim) WTTW: The psychology of coronavirus vs. climate change: why we mobilize for one, not the other (Katy Milkman) The Verge: Coronavirus cancellations show evidence-based decisions are rare during epidemics (Gretchen Chapman) WHYY: As COVID-19 creeps closer to Philly, city officials urge precaution (Alison Buttenheim)

Behavioral economics and safe firearm storage

Estimates suggest that around 4.6 million children live in homes with at least 1 loaded and unlocked firearm. In this Pediatrics article, CHIBE Associate Director Alison Buttenheim, PhD, MBA, and colleagues use behavioral economic theory to identify specific cognitive biases (ie, present bias; in-group, out-group bias; and the availability heuristic) that may influence parental decision-making around firearm storage. Read the paper here.

How psychological insights can inform food policies

In American Psychologist, Director of the PEACH Lab and member of CHIBE's leadership team Christina Roberto, PhD , explores how insights from psychology and behavioral economics help explain why it is hard to maintain healthy eating habits in modern food environments. Read the paper here.

CHIBE Profile: Lizzie Bair, MS Lizzie Bair, MS , supports the statistical needs of a wide range of projects, including prospective policy evaluations, clinical trials, and retrospective observational studies.   What projects are you working on now? I’m working on a series of retrospective studies for Dr. Venkataramani that look at how fluctuations in economic opportunity – employment booms and busts – affect health and mortality. I’m also working on a clinical trial looking at the impact of HIV self-tests among high-risk Kenyan women run by Dr. Thirumurthy. And finally, I’m involved in the Kentucky 1115 Waiver evaluation. What do you wish more people knew about your role? I don’t think I’ve ever been asked the same statistical or data question twice. All of us statistical analysts work on such a diverse range of projects, and with so many different kinds of collaborators. We never know everything we need to at the start of a project, and we’re always learning on the job. So it’s not a bad thing if your analyst says: “I don’t know!” What do you find rewarding about your work? I love getting to see how all the team member’s efforts come together to shape a project. Statistician seems like a lonely role, but we actually benefit from the collective knowledge and input of everyone else on the project – investigators, project managers, CRCs, and students. Everyone brings different perspectives and nuances of the study and data to the table, and it’s their contributions that drive the quality of our analyses. Funding Opportunities Quartet Pilot Research Project Competition CHIBE, Pension Research Council and Boettner Center, the Population Aging Research Center, and the Population Studies Center invite investigators to submit pilot proposals for the annual FY 2020-2021 Quartet Pilot Program competition.The funds are targeted to support small-scale, innovative or exploratory projects with a duration of one year. Proposals focusing on population health, life-course and healthy aging are encouraged. Apply by March 15. Find Quartet application info here CTSA Pilot Program In partnership with the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, CHIBE is inviting proposals for Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) pilot projects from ITMAT Members and Associate Members addressing 1.) improvement of enrollment and retention in clinical trials and 2.) improvement of population health outcomes or health behavior through the use of connected health interventions. Proposals are due by Wednesday, March 25, 2020, for a project start date of June 1, 2020. Find CTSA application info here Events Research Seminar with Jeff Linder March 27 at 12 PM Colonial Penn Center 3641 Locust Walk Jeff Linder, MD, MPH, FACP, the Michael A. Gertz Professor of Medicin, Chief of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Northwestern University, will speak at a seminar cosponsored by LDI. Learn more here. Research Seminar with Emily Kroshus April 9 at 12 PM 416-417 Stemmler Hall 3450 Hamilton Walk  Emily Kroshus, ScD, MPH, is a Research Assistant Professor at University of Washington in the Department of Pediatrics. Learn more here. Penn proposal lands in top 100 in MacArthur Foundation $100 million competition A proposal spearheaded by CHIBE Associate Directors Harsha Thirumurthy, PhD , and Alison Buttenheim, PhD, MBA, has been named in the Top 100 in the MacArthur Foundation 100&Change competition , which offers a single $100 million grant to help solve one of the world’s most critical social challenges. The collaboration between CHIBE, the Ezintsha unit of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and Discovery Vitality (part of South Africa’s largest private insurance company) seeks to implement behavioral interventions that will help to end South Africa’s HIV epidemic. Read more here on CHIBE's blog, or read the Penn Medicine blog post here. ALACRITY Spotlight On February 10, Penn’s P50 ALACRITY Center hosted its second annual winter retreat. The half-day event convened key stakeholders from Penn and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) to reflect on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from efforts to support EBP implementation in Philadelphia through its Evidence-based Practice and Innovation Center (EPIC), as well as to chart its vision and strategic initiatives for the future. To read more, see this piece from LDI’s Hoag Levins. Selected Media Coverage For Tracking Steps, Patients Stick With Phones, Not Wearable Devices: Study Good Medical Care Can Suffer Late In The Day The Perils of “Survivorship Bias” Do Americans Have the Political Will to Tackle Healthcare Costs? It’s Not Just You: Picking Health Insurance Is Hard Selected New Publications Frank HR et al. Behavioral Economic Insights for Pediatric Obesity . Jenssen BP et al. Using Behavioral Economics to Encourage Parent Behavior Change: Opportunities to Improve Clinical Effectiveness . Buttenheim AM et al. Vaccine Exemption Requirements and Parental Vaccine Attitudes: An Online Experiment . Pellecchia M et al. Parent Empowerment and Coaching in Early Intervention: Study Protocol for a Feasibility Study. Johnson LC et al. Adaptations and Patient Responses to Behavioral Intervention Components in a Depression-Focused Chronic Disease Care Model Implemented in India . Find more publications and media coverage on CHIBE's website. The Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) at the University of Pennsylvania conducts behavioral economics research aimed at reducing the disease burden from major U.S. public health problems. Originally founded within the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics , our mission is to inform health policy, improve health care delivery, and increase healthy behavior. Follow CHIBE on Twitter

Visit our website: Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics