- External publication
What motivates health behavior: Preferences, constraints, or beliefs? evidence from psychological interventions in Kenya.
Johannes Haushofer, Anett John & Kate Orkin
- October 1, 2018
- 5:34 am
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BEHAVIORAL THEME
OVERVIEW
We test the effect of light-touch psychological interventions on water chlorination and related health and psychological outcomes using a randomized controlled trial among 3750 young women in rural Kenya. One group received a two-session executive function intervention that aimed to improve planning and execution of plans; a second received a two-session time preference intervention aimed at reducing present bias and impatience. A third group receives only information about the benefits of chlorination, and a pure control group received no intervention. Ten weeks after the interventions, the executive function and time preferences interventions led to significant 18 percent and 27 percent increases, respectively, in the share of households who have chlorinated their drinking water, compared to the pure control group.
THEMATIC AREAS
This increase was accompanied by significant 26–28 percent (executive function) and 32–35 percent (time preferences) reductions in the number of diarrhea episodes in children relative to both placebo and control groups. The time preferences intervention also significantly increased the share of individuals who save regularly by 38 percent. We further study the psychological channels through which effects occur. The executive function intervention improved performance on a planning lab task relative to the placebo, and both the executive function and the time preferences intervention increased self-efficacy, i.e. beliefs about one’s ability to achieve desirable outcomes. Effects are not driven by changes in information: the information treatment increased beliefs about the efficacy of chlorine, but had no effect on chlorination rates or diarrhea. Together, these results suggest that there may be important psychological barriers to health behavior, possibly including low self-efficacy.