“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you

going.” -Jim Rohn

How to Keep GoingHow to Keep Going in the daily application of

sunscreen

A method for habit formation by Rosemary Ehlers

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Women are barraged with a multitude of products to keep themselves looking young and fresh –one of these many products is a simple sunscreen. While there has always been much focus on the face, if women truly wish to protect themselves from premature aging, they must not forget to apply sunscreen to their neck and hands as well.

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The MotivationThe Motivation

Ability to carry out the desired habit –do you have sunscreen?

I provided small, easily portable bottles of sunscreen to my users.

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Identify the smallest possible step – applying sunscreen to your

hands.

I asked my users to apply sunscreen only to their hands.

The MethodThe Method

Trigger the step –receive a text message reminder.

I sent my users a text message reminder at 11am asking them if they had used their sunscreen.

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In it for the long haul –graduated frequency of reminders.

Ultimately, the goal was for the users to apply sunscreen daily without a text message reminder –who really likes the idea of texting yourself a reminder every day for years?

To that end, the frequency of reminders depended on the consistency with which you applied sunscreen.

If you consistently used sunscreen at one level of frequency (daily), the frequency of reminders dropped (every two days). If you missed a day at the new frequency level, the frequency of reminders was increased. Ideally, eventually you would stop needing reminders at all.

The MethodThe Method

Frequency goes to every two daysFrequency goes back to every day

In the short term, the method was a success –overall, the user applied sunscreen 71% of the time. However, the goal of the design was to create a long-term habit, and towards the end of the study there was still no clear indication that the users were able to remember to apply sunscreen without the help of a trigger.

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The ResultsThe Results Replied ‘Yes’ to text message reminder. Replied ‘No’ to text message reminder. No reply.X Did not send a reminder. Total Responses:

The study was designed for a longer run-time than 10 days; in retrospect, it might have been better to design a study meant to last only 10 days.

The non-daily reminders did not work so well for some people –towards the end of the study, when reminders started to come at two-day intervals instead of daily, there was an increase in non-replies. Non-replies might also have been influenced by people’s busy and chaotic weekend schedules.

Still, users remembered to use sunscreen most of the time. (71%)

In a final survey, one user said that textingwas an “un-intrusive way to remind me to usesunscreen.”

Two users reported disliking ‘real’ sunscreenbecause it felt greasy –originally I had plannedto provide everyone with moisturizer with SPF,but due to budget constraints could only givethem regular sunscreen.

Despite this, both users were two of thethree who said they were likely to continueto apply sunscreen daily. Three users did not reply to the final survey.

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ConclusionsConclusions

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ConclusionsConclusions

In summary:

Longer studies are required to determine if non-daily reminders will be successful or not.

Study was ‘non-intrusive’, which will be good for the long-term.

Users applied sunscreen 71% of thetime.

Three out of seven users said theywere likely to continue to applysunscreen.

WANT TO RUN YOUR OWN STUDY? –a few good resources.

Send scheduled text messages to yourself & others: http://www.textmemos.com/ http://www.ohdontforget.com/

Information on sunscreen: How to choose the best sunscreen:

http://cancer.about.com/od/skincancerprevention/a/choosesunscreen.htm

How to apply sunscreen: http://cancer.about.com/od/skincancerprevention/ht/applysunscreen.htm

UVA Radiation: http://dermatology.about.com/cs/agingskin/g/uva.htm

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