10-Day Handwashing Challenge: Leveraging new technology to design digital tools for habit formation in a low-income context
Summary:
Habit formation is a critical, yet challenging step in achieving long-lasting behaviour change. Smartphone apps have demonstrated promising results in supporting habit formation. However, in many low-income contexts, the most vulnerable do not have access to smartphones, data costs are high and connectivity is low, making habit-tracking apps inaccessible. In an effort to leverage the positive results of habit formation in smartphone users, Every1Mobile created 10-Day Handwashing Challenge: a digital solution for lower-income communities who predominantly use feature phones, as part of a behaviour change project called U Afya, targeting mothers in Nairobi. It was designed to drive habit-formation of good handwashing behaviours, formulated around the WHO 5 Moments. This habit-formation tool is a first of its kind accessible on a basic feature phone, allowing us to look forward at the future of mobile technology and how digital tools can be used for SBCC. By building this tool onto a platform that users were already accessing, it offered them something new and exciting on their visit. This did away with additional onboarding needed for users to participate. In addition, informative content could be seamlessly linked to the tool, which served a demand-generation purpose, as well as a source of supplementary learning. In this session, we will share how we applied unique models to design the 10-Day Handwashing Challenge as well as results from the pilot and iterations implemented to improve the effectiveness of this digital intervention.
Background/Objectives:
U Afya is a digital community for young mothers to connect, share and learn about topics such as nutrition, hygiene and breastfeeding best practices, with the intention of driving knowledge, attitude and behaviour change. It is accessible through basic feature phones, and therefore offers an opportunity to test a habit formation tool accessible to low-income communities. The U Afya 10-Day Handwashing Challenge was designed to help users improve their handwashing behaviours, which would lead to better health and savings on medical fees.
Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:
The 10-Day Handwashing Challenge is delivered through the U Afya digital platform. It consists of a digital tool leveraging self-reporting by young mothers to record their completion of daily challenges, and perform a behaviour variant. The daily challenges are programmed to be taken in chronological order and provide continuous instruction on how to perform each behaviour variant. Additional functionality provides prompt rehearsal and repetition of the behaviour in the same context repeatedly so that the context elicits the behaviour. Throughout the challenge, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards were promoted following the completion of the final component of the behaviour along with a Handwashing Pledge which aims to solidify a long-lasting commitment to adopt the new behaviour. The simplicity of the design and the user journey required minimal effort from participants, which served to maximise the uptake of the challenge.
Results/Lessons Learned:
Within the first 30 days of its launch, 86 users started the challenge and 26 completed it, resulting in a 30% completion rate. The biggest drop-off happened between Day 1 and Day 2, while most participants who made it as far as Day 5, ended up completing the challenge. In addition to the quantitative feedback, participants were asked additional qualitative questions to gauge certain sentiments around the affordability of soap and the usability of the tool. From this additional questioning, it was determined that 91% of the participants felt they could afford to buy soap for their families. Those who made it as far as day 5 were more likely to complete the entire challenge. Later iterations of the habit tracker will focus on improving the user journey to address the drop-off rates between days 1 and 2.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
To allow us to measure the broader impact of the 10-Day Challenge as one of many digital behaviour change interventions within the project, the next phase will draw correlations between users who participate in the handwashing challenge, hygiene-related eLearning courses or hygiene-related pledges. We hope to share lessons learned that can help advance the SBCC field, in terms of habit formation as an effective technique in achieving long-lasting behaviour change and the use of innovative mobile technology to deliver SBCC in a more accessible way to reach the most disconnected and vulnerable communities.
Abstract submitted by:
Yolandi Janse Van Rensburg - Every1Mobile
Kat Piets - Every1Mobile
Abi Gleek - Every1Mobile
Habit formation is a critical, yet challenging step in achieving long-lasting behaviour change. Smartphone apps have demonstrated promising results in supporting habit formation. However, in many low-income contexts, the most vulnerable do not have access to smartphones, data costs are high and connectivity is low, making habit-tracking apps inaccessible. In an effort to leverage the positive results of habit formation in smartphone users, Every1Mobile created 10-Day Handwashing Challenge: a digital solution for lower-income communities who predominantly use feature phones, as part of a behaviour change project called U Afya, targeting mothers in Nairobi. It was designed to drive habit-formation of good handwashing behaviours, formulated around the WHO 5 Moments. This habit-formation tool is a first of its kind accessible on a basic feature phone, allowing us to look forward at the future of mobile technology and how digital tools can be used for SBCC. By building this tool onto a platform that users were already accessing, it offered them something new and exciting on their visit. This did away with additional onboarding needed for users to participate. In addition, informative content could be seamlessly linked to the tool, which served a demand-generation purpose, as well as a source of supplementary learning. In this session, we will share how we applied unique models to design the 10-Day Handwashing Challenge as well as results from the pilot and iterations implemented to improve the effectiveness of this digital intervention.
Background/Objectives:
U Afya is a digital community for young mothers to connect, share and learn about topics such as nutrition, hygiene and breastfeeding best practices, with the intention of driving knowledge, attitude and behaviour change. It is accessible through basic feature phones, and therefore offers an opportunity to test a habit formation tool accessible to low-income communities. The U Afya 10-Day Handwashing Challenge was designed to help users improve their handwashing behaviours, which would lead to better health and savings on medical fees.
Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:
The 10-Day Handwashing Challenge is delivered through the U Afya digital platform. It consists of a digital tool leveraging self-reporting by young mothers to record their completion of daily challenges, and perform a behaviour variant. The daily challenges are programmed to be taken in chronological order and provide continuous instruction on how to perform each behaviour variant. Additional functionality provides prompt rehearsal and repetition of the behaviour in the same context repeatedly so that the context elicits the behaviour. Throughout the challenge, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards were promoted following the completion of the final component of the behaviour along with a Handwashing Pledge which aims to solidify a long-lasting commitment to adopt the new behaviour. The simplicity of the design and the user journey required minimal effort from participants, which served to maximise the uptake of the challenge.
Results/Lessons Learned:
Within the first 30 days of its launch, 86 users started the challenge and 26 completed it, resulting in a 30% completion rate. The biggest drop-off happened between Day 1 and Day 2, while most participants who made it as far as Day 5, ended up completing the challenge. In addition to the quantitative feedback, participants were asked additional qualitative questions to gauge certain sentiments around the affordability of soap and the usability of the tool. From this additional questioning, it was determined that 91% of the participants felt they could afford to buy soap for their families. Those who made it as far as day 5 were more likely to complete the entire challenge. Later iterations of the habit tracker will focus on improving the user journey to address the drop-off rates between days 1 and 2.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
To allow us to measure the broader impact of the 10-Day Challenge as one of many digital behaviour change interventions within the project, the next phase will draw correlations between users who participate in the handwashing challenge, hygiene-related eLearning courses or hygiene-related pledges. We hope to share lessons learned that can help advance the SBCC field, in terms of habit formation as an effective technique in achieving long-lasting behaviour change and the use of innovative mobile technology to deliver SBCC in a more accessible way to reach the most disconnected and vulnerable communities.
Abstract submitted by:
Yolandi Janse Van Rensburg - Every1Mobile
Kat Piets - Every1Mobile
Abi Gleek - Every1Mobile
Source
Approved abstract for the postponed 2020 SBCC Summit in Marrakech, Morocco. Provided by the International Steering Committee for the Summit. Image credit: Every1Mobile