Case Study : The Honest Truth continued ...
Website developments
Website / social media traffic – It was agreed during the KEC that there are benefits to ADI ’ s encouraging their learners to like , follow and interact with social media activity linked to the approach . Social media allows contact with these individuals to be maintained once they have progressed to the post-learner phase – a crucial time when good behaviours may be cemented , but bad behaviours may be learned . Keeping in touch also makes it easier for follow-up work to take place , such as evaluation . The Honest Truth can then encourage individuals to review their behaviour periodically , for example , when they ask them if they have stuck to their pledge and achieved their goals so far . If they have not , they could be asked to think about why that is and how they can find the help they need .
Personal consequences - It makes sense to provide information relating to personal consequences such as collision , death and injury , as well as the legal consequences , as the The Honest Truth website does . Different individuals will be persuaded by different types of logic , so it is ( we agree ) best to cover all angles and maximise the chances that everyone will find some motivation to change their problematic behaviours . Individuals can also be encouraged to think about the rewards that they will experience if they drive safely and how they compare to the harms that could result from adopting risky behaviours . These suggestions draw on behaviour change techniques – more of which can be found on page 22 . In an imminent refresh of the website content , additional videos highlighting these issues are due to be included .
What can you do ? – Young people can often find engagement with education and experts to be disempowering , so sections like the ‘ what can you do to be a good driver ’ area of the The Honest Truth website are particularly welcome . We support the empowering nature of the title ( what can you do = you can do something ) as well as the strategies that involve a driver being encouraged to exert control over their car , as set out in the ‘ Your rules ’ section .
Personal stories - The Honest Truth website provides multiple stories of personal experiences , showing that the issues and their consequences are not ‘ one-offs ’ or isolated or unfortunate events . This is a useful tactic for persuading those who may think that the risks are overstated or that ‘ it won ’ t be me ’. It is also useful that the case studies are fronted by experts with many years ’ experience of dealing with crash after crash , but still clearly emotionally affected by their experiences . Given the focus of the intervention , some forthcoming videos featuring young people are planned , as these are more likely to resonate with the young viewers , who may be able to identify more strongly with the situations portrayed .
Pledge – The pledge is an important part of the website as it links to a number of behaviour change techniques . When encouraging pledge-making as part of an approach , it must be clear how and where that can be done , and we would suggest that there are opportunities to personalise the wording to whatever particular behaviour the person making the pledge needs to address (‘ I will not make calls ’, ‘ I will not check social media ’ for
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