Case Study : My Red Thumb continued ...
• Although activity is based around a single day , ‘ pledgers ’ can be reminded of their commitment throughout the year when they visit the site or account . They can also be encouraged to ‘ review goals ’ they have set themselves , and to ‘ reward ’ themselves or others for effective behaviour change .
• To ‘ prompt identification as a role model ’, those who claim never to use a mobile phone while driving can be encouraged to keep others safe by promoting the avoidance strategies explained within the website or by explaining to other individuals the importance of refraining from using a mobile phone while driving . This also contributes to a social norm that suggests safe driving is majority behaviour .
• ‘ Self-talk ’ can be prompted by encouraging individuals to verbalise the consequences associated with using a mobile phone while driving , and what that would mean for them as individuals . This could be combined with the social element of pledging , where individuals could submit footage of themselves painting their nail whilst listing their motivations .
Evaluation
One of the difficulties in evaluation of My Red Thumb approach is that it is difficult to distinguish between the website , the social media presence and any other form of engagement that may take place both before and during the day . This makes it difficult to recognise which aspect of the approach is improving public awareness or creating behaviour change .
Output measures such as the number of people pledging are useful to a degree , but become more interesting if there is an opportunity to follow up people ’ s ability to keep to them at a later date . This means somehow keeping track of those that have engaged during My Red Thumb day , perhaps by obtaining their contact details as part of the pledging process . This is also an opportunity to remind and offer encouragement ( see above ). Some measures , such as ‘ views ’, ‘ likes ’, ‘ follows ’ and ‘ shares ’ are less reliable as indicators of actual engagement , but higher numbers of each are still better than low numbers and may help to secure or retain funding and support from partners .
Mobile : Engaged Impact
“ Following the consultation and review of our project , it became clear that there were a number of areas we could improve on and some which we had not really considered properly . For example one suggestion regarding engagement was to identify where the individual was with regard to a “ stage of change .” Whilst we are aware of this we do not currently plan different behavioural change techniques for each stage of change . This is something we will be looking at for next year .” Nigel Flower , Devon County Council
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