Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37990108›Full record

Trial reportScientific reports2023

Behaviourally-informed household communications increase uptake of radon tests in a randomised controlled trial.

Shane Timmons, Peter D Lunn

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 35% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Shane TimmonsEconomic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin, Ireland. shane.timmons@esri.ie.
Peter D LunnEconomic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin, Ireland.
Economic and Social Research Institute · IETrinity College Dublin · IE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Exposure to radon gas is a leading cause of lung cancer. Testing homes for the gas is straightforward, yet most people do not undertake tests even when offered freely. We report a pre-registered randomised controlled trial of communications to encourage test uptake. Households (N = 3500) in areas at high risk of radon exposure were randomly assigned to receive (i) a the control letter from the national Environmental Protection Agency; (ii) a behaviourally-informed version of the control letter that incorporated multiple nudges, including reciprocity messages and numeric frequencies of risk; (iii) this same behaviourally-informed letter in a re-designed envelope; (iv) the behaviourally-informed letter in the re-designed enveloped with a radon risk map of the household's county. The behaviourally-informed letter led to a large increase in test uptake, from 22% in the control condition to 33% (a 50% increase). There was no additional benefit of the re-designed envelope, which generated uptake of 30%. Including the map led some households to respond faster, but the overall uptake (26%) was weaker. The results have implications for public health communications with households and show the potential for techniques from behavioural science to help mitigate environmental risks.

Indexed as

Air Pollution, IndoorHealth CommunicationRadonHumansPublic HealthRisk AssessmentRadon

Identifiers

PMID37990108
PMCPMC10663451
OpenAlexW4388852374

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.