Table 1.
Examples of long and short term boost interventions related to health
| Target skills | Target population | Boost intervention |
|---|---|---|
| Long term boosts | ||
| Self-control | People wanting to exercise regularly but failing to do so | “Temptation bundling”—ie, simultaneously pairing a behaviour that provides delayed rewards (such as exercise) with a pleasurable indulgence (such as watching a TV series), so the former becomes more instantly gratifying21 |
| Smokers wanting to quit | Meditation techniques to help control nicotine cravings27 | |
| Processing complex information | General public | Teaching intuitive decision strategies based on meal colour variety to facilitate healthy food choices28 |
| Short term boosts | ||
| Health literacy | Patients choosing between treatment options | Fact boxes to communicate treatment benefits and harms23-25 |
| Accurate diagnosis | Doctors assessing patients with suspected cancer | Collective intelligence rules: simple decision rules derived from the pooled judgments of multiple doctors29 |
| Accurate perception of risk | Patients receiving information about risk (such as risk of breast cancer) | Experience based information formats30: user friendly simulators allowing people to explore the likelihoods of possible outcomes associated with particular behaviours (such as risk of breast cancer associated with drinking alcohol) |
| Processing complex information | People deciding whether they should self-isolate during the covid-19 pandemic | “Fast-and-frugal” decision trees: simple decision aids that limit the number of questions or frame choices intuitively and memorably31 |