Unpacking Nudge Sensu Lato: Insights from a Scoping Review.

Nudges may play an important role in improving infection prevention and control (IPC) in hospitals. However, despite the novelty of the framework, their objectives, strategies and implementation approaches are not new. This work aims to provide an overview of the methods typically used by nudge interventions in IPC in hospitals targeting healthcare workers (HCW). An initial search in Pubmed yielded 9 hits. Consequently, we opted to broaden the search criteria and conducted a second search, introducing "nudge sensu lato", which incorporates insights from sources beyond the traditional nudge framework while maintaining the same objectives, strategies and approaches. During the second search Pubmed, Epistemonikos, Web of Science and PsycInfo were searched according to PRISMA guidelines. Abstracts were screened and reviewers from an interdisciplinary team read selected papers fully. 5.706 unique primary studies were found, 67 were included in the review, and only 4 were listed as nudges sensu stricto, focusing on changing HCW hand hygiene. All articles reported positive intervention outcomes. Among 56 articles focused on improving hand hygiene compliance, 71.4% had positive outcomes. For healthcare equipment disinfection, 50% of studies showed significant results. Guideline adherence interventions had a 66.7% significant outcome rate. We introduced the concept of "nudge sensu lato" encompassing interventions that employ strategies, methods, and implementation approaches found in the nudge framework. Our findings demonstrate that this concept can enhance the scientific development of more impactful nudges. This may help clinicians, researchers and policy-makers develop and implement effective nudging interventions.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest Nicolas Reinoso Schiller: none. Anna Bludau: none. Tim Mathes: none. Tatiana Landesberger: none. Simone Scheithauer: none. The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.