The Global Association of Applied Behavioural Scientists
Dr Mohammed Al Hajji
Director of Research, Saudi Arabia Ministry of Tourism
(At the time of the 2023 Awards Dr Al Hajji was Director of the Nudge Unit at the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health)
2023 HIGHLY COMMENDED
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If you had to summarise your submission into a “TL;DR” what would you say (use one or two sentences)?
Caregivers can use the help of behavioral sciences to help the family adhere to medical recommendations. Our study utilized the power of default to auto schedule children for the well baby clinics based on the child's birth date. Also, the study tested several evidence-based framing techniques to remind parents about the approaching well baby visit.
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What real-world changes have been implemented as a result of your research? Are you seeing the results replicated at a larger scale?
Yes within MoH and different organizations, people now are more diligent when crafting their messages to beneficiaries. They appreciate the value driven by behaviorally-informed techniques (e.g., loss vs. gain frame, MINDSPACE framework).
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What advice would you give to others who might take inspiration from your entry and plan their own interventions?
If you work in the public sector, you're likely sitting on a wealth of data and archives. Use it wisely to personalize and automate your interventions based on the technological infrastructure you have (for example, sending automatic reminders based on certain demographic variables).