The overall goal of the study is to better understand how communication strategies can help people make decisions about health insurance plans. This study aims to: * (Aim 1) Examine currently uninsured individuals' understanding of terminology and details of health insurance plans; * (Aim 2) Apply three recommended strategies for communicating information about health insurance plans; * (Aim 3) Test the effects of these strategies in a randomized experiment.
First, this study will examine people's understanding of health insurance plan terminology and details through qualitative interviews with 50 uninsured individuals. These responses will then lead to the development of three communication strategies to improve understanding of health insurance plans: 1) plain language, 2) plain language plus visual displays and 3) plain language plus narratives. The strategies will the be pilot tested with 30 individuals to assess readability, clarity of language, and layout. The revised communication strategies will be tested with 280 individuals in a randomized experiment. Individuals will be randomly assigned to either a plain language condition alone, a plain language + visual displays condition, and a plain language + narrative condition.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
343
The Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
St Louis, Missouri, United States
Knowledge
Knowledge measures the degree at which participants understand the details about health insurance plans. Knowledge was scored on a scale from 0 to 7 based on number of correct answers to the 7 items. A higher value is considered to be a better outcome. Bivariate outcome data can be found below.
Time frame: 1 day (Immediately following showing the participant the assigned intervention (plain language table, plain language table + visuals, or plain language table + narratives)
Uncertainty
A survey will be administered in order to measure participants' confidence in the features of health insurance plans that matter most to them and the insurance plan they chose of the ones presented. Confidence in choice is scored on a scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more decisional conflict/more uncertainty/less confidence in choice. Bivariate outcome data can be found below.
Time frame: 1 day (Immediately following showing the participant the assigned intervention (plain language table, plain language table + visuals, or plain language table + narratives)
Satisfaction
A survey will be administered in order to measure the extent to which participants are satisfied with the information presented to them. Satisfaction was scored on a scale from 1 to 4, with higher scores indicating higher levels of satisfaction. Bivariate outcome data can be found below.
Time frame: 1 day (Immediately following showing the participant the assigned intervention (plain language table, plain language table + visuals, or plain language table + narratives)
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.