MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 12, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RedBrick Health Corporation, a leading provider of technology-enabled enterprise health solutions that empower consumer health engagement and health behavior change, announced today the results of a large-scale study on behavior change and improvement in biometric health risks. The research focused on the impact of a consumer-directed approach to health engagement using a form of choice architecture–rather than traditional intervention targeting based solely on risk.
The study, Impact of Choice-Based Design on Population Health: Results of a Consumer-Driven Engagement Model on Objective Health Measures and Self-Reported Health Behaviors, found behavior-focused telephone coaching, digital coaching (using web and mobile software rather than live coaches), and daily activity tracking to be equivalently effective when consumers chose the focus and modality of the intervention. Participants improved at similar rates regardless of the way they engaged.
"Regardless of which modality the participant chose, what was most important was engagement itself. We saw clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvements in BMI, blood pressure and non-HDL cholesterol among participants who had elevated risk at baseline," said Dr. Jeff Dobro, chief medical officer of RedBrick Health and co-author of the study.
The study, conducted in 2013 and 2014, included over 84,000 participants with biometric measures in two consecutive years and over 180,000 participants with consecutive-year health assessments. Areas of analyses also included lifestyle habits such as physical activity, nutrition and resiliency to stress.
Study authors examined the use of coaching for participants with diabetes, asthma or cardiovascular disease. Given the choice, 80 percent of these consumers with chronic conditions selected a lifestyle topic as their coaching focus. The net impact of providing choice was delivery of three times as much condition-relevant coaching than they would have received in a traditional disease management model.
"These results affirm our belief that our consumer-centric model, using an engagement platform that combines guidance and choice, can produce meaningful results. Users respond to control and options, which is not a feature of traditional population health management designs that push one modality over others for those at elevated risk," said Eric Zimmerman, chief marketing officer of RedBrick Health and co-author of the study. "There really isn't a one-size-fits-all intervention. You can't assume that live coaches outperform virtual coaching or self-tracking. All can be very effective in reducing risks and improving health, especially when the consumer makes the choice and commitment."
The full research paper can be downloaded from the RedBrick Health Web site at https://home.redbrickhealth.com/results/white-papers/.
About RedBrick Health
RedBrick Health is a consumer health engagement company that helps organizations create real behavior change. By combining behavioral and clinical expertise with adaptive technology and an open platform, RedBrick produces a personal experience in web, mobile and live interactions. The company serves large, self-insured employers, insurers, providers, brokers and strategic distribution partners. Visit RedBrick at RedBrickHealth.com, read more at the Health Innovation Blog, or follow the company on Twitter or LinkedIn.
