Understanding Why Participants Sign-up For BCBH

By Katy Plant

 

As we’ve discussed in the past, we’re committed to ensuring as great a user experience as we can for our program participants.  This means not only a rigorous process of user testing prior to launching new features, but a continuous process of reviewing feedback.  Recently, we reviewed the self-reported reasons participants enrolled in our Better Choices, Better Health® (BCBH) program.

 

We ask all participants to complete a survey of their BCBH experience.  A free text response question asks them why they enrolled.  We analyzed several hundred recent responses categorizing them into six main reasons.

  1. Better Health: Primary motivation was to see one or many health outcomes improve.
  2. Community Engagement: Primary motivation was to connect with, or receive support from others.
  3. Receiving an Incentive: Primary motivation was to obtain an incentive from their employer or health plan.
  4. To Learn Something: Primary motivation was to learn something new.
  5. Was Missing/Needed Something: Primary motivation was the person felt like they needed something new.
  6. Program Was Offered: Primary motivation was that the program had been offered, often at no charge, by their health plan, provider, or employer.

 

The breakdown of motivations came as follows:

 

 

A note on the goal to learn something – most of the time the participant wanted to learn something related to being healthier.  So in a way this objective was very similar to better health.  We separated it out for in one case the goal was for the workshop to make the person healthier, and in the learning context, the goal was to gain knowledge that would then be applied to make the participant healthier. Combined ‘Better Health’ and ‘to Learn Something’ were the primary motivation of 55% of the participants.  This was not surprising as the program is positioned strongly as health improvement.

 

We found it particularly interesting when examining the responses of those who enrolled because they were missing something or needed something.  We heard comments like the following:

  • “Thought it would make me more accountable to make changes I need to do to be successful”
  • “I’m trying to find a better balance between life-work-chronic illness. I thought this would be worth a try.”
  • “I was seeking a recharge and reframing on issues I struggle with that at times get the best of me.”

 

One take away for us is the relative motivation to enroll in the program for the Community Engagement.  We’re unclear at this time if that was a function of (1) A poor description of the Community elements of the workshop, (2) A general lack of interest/demand for community or (3) An understanding by the participants that the strong community interactions were the source of better health and better learning.

 

Lastly, we were pleased to see that only 5% were primarily motivated by the incentive they were offered.

 

As any learning organization, we’re taking this input to dig deeper into the survey results, conduct additional interviews, and improve or program for our participants.

 

 

 

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