@article {Schmidtke189, author = {Kelly Ann Schmidtke and Peter G Nightingale and Katharine Reeves and Suzy Gallier and Ivo Vlaev and Samuel I Watson and Richard J Lilford}, title = {Randomised controlled trial of a theory-based intervention to prompt front-line staff to take up the seasonal influenza vaccine}, volume = {29}, number = {3}, pages = {189--197}, year = {2020}, doi = {10.1136/bmjqs-2019-009775}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group Ltd}, abstract = {Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of reminder letters informed by social normative theory (a type of {\textquoteleft}nudge theory{\textquoteright}) on uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination by front-line hospital staff.Design Individually randomised controlled trial.Setting A large acute care hospital in England.Participants Front-line staff employed by the hospital (n=7540) were randomly allocated to one of four reminder types in a factorial design.Interventions The standard letter included only general information directing the staff to take up the vaccine. A second letter highlighted a type of social norm based on peer comparisons. A third letter highlighted a type of social norm based on an appeal to authority. A fourth letter included a combination of the social norms.Main outcome measure The proportion of hospital staff vaccinated on-site.Results Vaccine coverage was 43\% (812/1885) in the standard letter group, 43\% (818/1885) in the descriptive norms group, 43\% (814/1885) in the injunctive norms group and 43\% (812/1885) in the combination group. There were no statistically significant effects of either norm or the interaction. The OR for the descriptive norms factor is 1.01 (0.89{\textendash}1.15) in the absence of the injunctive norms factor and 1.00 (0.88{\textendash}1.13) in its presence. The OR for the injunctive norms factor is 1.00 (0.88{\textendash}1.14) in the absence of the descriptive norms factor and 0.99 (0.87{\textendash}1.12) in its presence.Conclusions We find no evidence that the uptake of the seasonal influenza vaccination is affected by reminders using social norms to motivate uptake.}, issn = {2044-5415}, URL = {https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/29/3/189}, eprint = {https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/29/3/189.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Quality \& Safety} }