MPhil/PhD in Health Policy and Health Economics How health care behaviours are formed, and if particular critical moments in life matter in the format

This research will aim to investigate how health care behaviours are formed, and particularly, if critical moments in the lives of individuals play a role in this formative process. The nature of this research is multidisciplinary, combining elements of behavioural health economics and psychology to explore the factors that can influence the health care behaviours of individuals interacting with a health system, as well as the behaviours of those that work within the health system. Current literature on health care behaviours is largely focused on quantifying and measuring the effect of incentives, both financial and behavioural, in changing pre-established health care choices and perceptions, for example in the case of vaccine hesitancy. However, there is a scarce availability of research that instead attempts to measure the agents that can sway the development of health care behaviours at its earliest stages, potentially impacting the creation and the robustness of long-term habits. This research proposal will aim to fill this conceptual gap with its experimental and quantitative approach, exploring health care behaviour formation during particular time periods or events, within the context of 2-3 countries with different health systems. This will be achieved in the form of 3 distinct papers employing different research methodologies, each revolving around a specific behavioural health economics concept: 1. Understanding health care use during the COVID-19 pandemic 2. Induced health care behaviours: ADHD saliency and overdiagnosis 3. Experiment with doctors: What motivated the choice of specialization?