Communicating the risk of tick-borne disease: designing and testing an intervention to increase uptake of preventive behaviours Seminar

Tick-borne disease represents a growing problem in the UK. While some communication materials exist which encourage members of the public to adopt precautionary behaviours when in tick affected areas, these have not been informed by empirical evidence as to what factors promote the uptake of protective behaviours and have not had their effectiveness formally tested. In this study, qualitative and quantitative data fed into the design of communication materials that served as interventions against tick-borne disease risks. These were tested in a randomised controlled trial where members of the public were sent one of three versions of the intervention, one including disgust reduction messages, one with messages based on behaviour change techniques developed from conventional models within health psychology and one based on existing materials. The intervention based on conventional theories of health psychology proved most effective at increasing the uptake of tick checking behaviour, while disgust reduction appeared to decrease behavioural engagement. These results highlight the need for policy makers to be aware of the importance of engaging with the public and incorporating elements of health psychology theory into intervention design.