Launching the First Federal Effort to Apply Behavioral Science to U.S. Human Services Programs

Emily Schmitt (), Amanda Benton (), Kimberly Clum () and Marie Lawrence ()
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Emily Schmitt: The Adjacent Possible
Amanda Benton: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Kimberly Clum: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Marie Lawrence: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

A chapter in Behavioral Public Policy in a Global Context, 2023, pp 59-79 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In this history and overview of the first major federal effort to apply behavioral science to human services in the United States, the authors share how the unique context of federally funded human services programs made behavioral science a simultaneously promising and uncertain approach. The chapter details the efforts of a federal research office in the Administration for Children and Families, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to stand up a portfolio of work using behavioral science to diagnose problems that federally funded human services programs were facing, design behaviorally informed interventions to address these challenges, and test the interventions with randomized controlled trials. The chapter explores reasons that some programs that went through this behavioral diagnosis and design process ultimately did not complete evaluations, shares examples of the common types of nudges tested, and describes lessons learned about translating behavioral science to these complex populations and programs.

Keywords: Poverty; Human services; United States; Federal government; Randomized controlled trials; Behavioral interventions; Nudges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-31509-1_5

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-31509-1_5

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