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Ambulances Are for Emergencies: Shifting Behaviour Through a Research-Informed Behaviour Change Campaign

27 Pages Posted: 25 Sep 2019

See all articles by Kim Borg

Kim Borg

Monash University - BehaviourWorks Australia

David Dumas

The Shannon Company

Emily Andrew

Ambulance Victoria

Karen Smith

Ambulance Victoria

Tony Walker

Ambulance Victoria

Matthew Haworth

Victorian Department of Health and Human Services

Peter Bragge

Monash University - BehaviourWorks Australia

More...

Abstract

Background: A major review of Victoria's ambulance services identified the need to improve public awareness of the role of ambulances as an emergency service. A communications campaign was developed to address this challenge. This research paper expands on an initial evaluation of the campaign by focusing on the long-term behavioural outcomes.

Methods: The behavioural evaluation involved two types of data collection: administrative data (routinely collection from various health services); and survey data (cross-sectional community-wide surveys to measure behavioural intentions).

Results: Behavioural intentions for accessing two of the targeted non-emergency services increased after the second phase of the campaign commenced. There was also a significant change in the slope of call trends for emergency ambulances. This decrease is also likely attributed to the second phase of the campaign as significant level effects were identified three and nine months after it commenced.

Conclusions: A long-term campaign developed through evidence review, stakeholder consultation and behavioural theory was successful in reducing the number of daily calls requesting an emergency ambulance in Victoria and in increasing intentions to use alternative services. This research highlights the importance of collaborative intervention design along with the importance of implementing a robust monitoring and evaluation framework.

Funding Statement: This work was [supported] by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.

Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics Approval Statement: Ethics approvals for this project was obtained from Monash University’s Human Research Ethics Committee on 17 January 2017 for the campaign evaluation research (ref: 2017-7811).

Suggested Citation

Borg, Kim and Dumas, David and Andrew, Emily and Smith, Karen and Walker, Tony and Haworth, Matthew and Bragge, Peter, Ambulances Are for Emergencies: Shifting Behaviour Through a Research-Informed Behaviour Change Campaign (September 23, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3457433 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3457433

Kim Borg (Contact Author)

Monash University - BehaviourWorks Australia ( email )

8 Scenic Boulevard
Victoria, 3800
Australia

David Dumas

The Shannon Company

Melbourne, Victoria
Australia

Emily Andrew

Ambulance Victoria

Doncaster, Victoria
United States

Karen Smith

Ambulance Victoria

Doncaster, Victoria
United States

Tony Walker

Ambulance Victoria

Doncaster, Victoria
United States

Matthew Haworth

Victorian Department of Health and Human Services

Melbourne, Victoria
Australia

Peter Bragge

Monash University - BehaviourWorks Australia

8 Scenic Boulevard
Victoria, 3800
Australia

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