Every day, thousands of letters are sent from health authorities encouraging recipients to attend an appointment, vaccinations, cancer screening, or a health check-up, or engage in other health-related behaviours. Many of these letters have the potential to be optimized for even more impact – that is, to make people act on them. Principles from communication science can help develop better letters. In addition, this document presents evidence from the behavioural sciences, which can also help develop more impactful letters. This policy brief presents nine considerations that can be applied across the process to develop, review or evaluate letters: ensure a clear call to action; keep a letter short and simple; address the barriers to and leverage the drivers for a behaviour; draw on relevant psychological mechanisms; adapt a letter to a cultural context and consider health equity; attract a readers’ attention; use the right sender and signatory; test the letter and engage with intended recipients; and combine with reminders.
Authors
- Citation
- World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe . (2024). Better letters – evidence and considerations from the behavioural sciences: Behavioural and Cultural Insights policy brief series. World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/379552 . License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
- GOVDOC
- WHO/EURO:2024-10510-50282-76731 (print)
- Pages
- 42
- Published in
- Switzerland
- Rights
- CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Health Organization
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo
Table of Contents
- Behavioural and cultural insights policy brief 1
- Better letters evidence and considerations from the behavioural sciences 1
- Better letters evidence and considerations from the behavioural sciences 3
- Abstract 4
- KEYWORDS 4
- Contents 6
- Acknowledgements 7
- Abbreviations 7
- Introduction 8
- Common problems with health letters 8
- A simple or a more comprehensive approach 10
- Relevant issues to explore as part of the situation analysis 11
- To tailor the letter to the needs and circumstances of the recipients it may be advisable to apply the Tailoring Health Programmes approach. 11
- Considerations for better letters 12
- Example A The nine considerations applied in one letter 13
- Redesigning a letter 14
- Ensure a clear call to action 15
- Example B Call for action simplification personalization and addressing barriers 15
- Keep the letter short and simple 16
- Resources for clear and simple writing 16
- Example C Simple language and clear call to action 17
- Adapt to the cultural context and consider health equity 18
- Creating several tailored letter versions for specific cultural contexts or communities may help increase equity and reach and enable the target behaviour in more people. 18
- Address the barriers to and leverage the drivers for the behaviour 19
- Example D Addressing barriers and leveraging drivers 20
- Example D Addressing barriers and leveraging drivers 21
- Draw on relevant psychological mechanisms 22
- A few key points from research on psychological effects 22
- Establishing social norms 23
- Example F Using social norms to change doctors antibiotics prescribing behaviour 23
- Bridging the intention-action gap 24
- Utilizing the framing effect 25
- A good knowledge of the context behaviour and recipient is the best foundation for designing letters that help overcome these complex barriers to action alongside pilot testing and evaluating change. 25
- Attract the readers attention 26
- Example G Attracting attention and using the messenger effect 27
- Example H Attracting attention 27
- Use the right sender and signatory 28
- Test the letter and engage with the intended recipients 29
- Guidance on impact evaluation 29
- Combine with reminders 30
- Additional resources 31
- Checklist 32
- References 34
- Annex 1 39
