Subject terms
lung cancer, apathy, complicationsAs
EXPOSURE TO RADON, LUNG CANCER
Exposure to radon gas is a leading cause of lung cancer. Testing homes for the gas is straightforward, yet most people do not undertake tests even when offered freely. We report a pre-registered randomised controlled trial of communications to encourage test uptake. Households (Radon is a leading cause of lung cancer, but most people don’t know their level of exposureFrom a psychological perspective, the contradiction between the health risks of radon and apathy towards home testing is perhaps unsurprising. There are no sensory cues that radon is accumulating; it is colourless, odourless, tasteless and leads to no immediately perceptible symptoms. Its effects are only experienced over long time periods and those affected by it may never realise they were exposed. These features likely exacerbate other biases that inhibit mitigative action. People are often overly optimistic about their risk of health complicationsAs a result, most previous attempts to increase radon testing rates have had limited successOur approach differs from previous trials and follows recent calls from experts to apply rigorous methods from social science to radon communications. The Potsdam Radon Communication Manifesto emphasises the need for science-based communication strategies that rely on theory and evidence in place of gut-feelings on what may work, for collaboration between policymakers and social scientists and the use of interactive risk maps to bolster personalised communicationsIn our pre-registered trial, we selected a random sample of 3500 households from high radon areas in Ireland. For this study, a high radon area was defined as an area where the EPA predicts that more than 20% of domestic dwellings have radon concentrations above the national reference level of 200 Bq/mOur first treatment was to apply a series of behavioural levers to letters that were scheduled for posting to households in high radon areas. Despite the now widespread use of “nudges” in applied public policyFor our second treatment, the BI letter was the same but it was issued in a re-designed envelope. Changing the design of envelopes is thought to increase their salience and hence the likelihood they will be opened and attended to. For example, one trial by UK energy regulator showed higher engagement with the retail energy market using supplier-branded envelopes compared to control onesThe third treatment was issued in the re-designed envelope, but the BI letter was further manipulated to include a “targeted” communication for the householder. Targeted risk communications are those aimed at population subgroups defined by shared characteristicsOur pre-registered hypothesis (