Financial Incentives for Increasing Exercise

June 23, 2015 updated by: Harvard University

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Financial Incentives for Increasing Exercise

Participants will be employees of Genzyme who volunteer to participate in a study on motivating healthy behaviors, involving giving them goals for taking a certain number of steps per day, and increasing that number over time. Participants will wear pedometers and upload their data to a website that allows them to monitor their progress, and have the opportunity to win money based on meeting their step goals.

Interested employees will schedule a day and time to complete a health screening at a "Health Fair" at their place of employment, to ensure that they are healthy enough to participate; at this time participants will also complete the investigators baseline dependent measures, and receive a pedometer. After a one-week baseline period during which they wear the pedometer and the investigators establish their typical number of steps per day, eligible participants will then be assigned to one of four treatments - a "no incentive" control condition, and three conditions in which they are entered into different kinds of monetary lotteries if they have met their step goals for that day. Participants' initial goal will be based on their steps during the baseline period, and the goal will increase by 250 steps each week, for a total of 12 weeks. After these 3 months, the incentives portion of the experiment ends, but participants continue to wear their pedometers and upload their data for an additional 6 months. At 3 months, 6 months, and then at the study end at 9 months, participants again complete the investigators dependent measures at follow-up Health Fairs at their place of employment.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Withdrawn

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, 02142
        • Genzyme

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • BMI of 28 or higher
  • Pass the Par-Q
  • answer "No" to all Par-Q questions
  • at least 18 years of age
  • has computer at home or work with compatible operating system (i.e. windows 2000, windows xp, windows vista, osX 10.3-10.5), internet access, and usb port

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Anyone who does not meet all of the inclusion criteria

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Control
1) Control Group. Receives daily step goals via emails and has access to the study website to allow them to track their progress. Eligible for check-in incentives.
Behavioral: Financial incentives for increasing physical exercise
Throughout the 12-week intervention, participants will receive step goals. The step goals will increase by 250 steps per week, The intervention will last a total of 12 weeks. After each seven-day week, step goals will increase by an additional 250 steps - thus over the 12 weeks, participants will be asked to increase their daily step count by 3,000. Participants will receive financial incentives to attain these step goals; the incentive schemes differ according to intervention arm.
Experimental: Fixed

Receives control intervention plus are incentivized to attain their daily step goals through daily lotteries:

Each day, we will draw a two-digit number. If the first digit OR the second digit of this daily number matches the participant's lucky number, they win the small jackpot. If both digits match, they receive the large jackpot. Participants who meet their step goal for the day and who upload their data will be entered into the same lottery each day, where the small jackpot is $10 and the large jackpot is $100.
Behavioral: Financial incentives for increasing physical exercise
Throughout the 12-week intervention, participants will receive step goals. The step goals will increase by 250 steps per week, The intervention will last a total of 12 weeks. After each seven-day week, step goals will increase by an additional 250 steps - thus over the 12 weeks, participants will be asked to increase their daily step count by 3,000. Participants will receive financial incentives to attain these step goals; the incentive schemes differ according to intervention arm.
Experimental: Ascending

Receives control intervention plus incentivized to attain daily step goals through lotteries:

Each day, we will draw a two-digit number. If the first digit OR the second digit of this daily number matches the participant's lucky number, they win the small jackpot. If both digits match, they receive the large jackpot.

Participants can increase their daily jackpots by meeting their step goals. Those who meet their goal for the first day of the week and who upload their data will be entered into a lottery where the small jackpot is $4 and the large jackpot is $40; if they successfully meet their step goal on the first day of the week, the jackpots for the second day increase to $6/$60, and so on such that if they reach their goals each day, the jackpots on day seven will reach $16/$160.
Behavioral: Financial incentives for increasing physical exercise
Throughout the 12-week intervention, participants will receive step goals. The step goals will increase by 250 steps per week, The intervention will last a total of 12 weeks. After each seven-day week, step goals will increase by an additional 250 steps - thus over the 12 weeks, participants will be asked to increase their daily step count by 3,000. Participants will receive financial incentives to attain these step goals; the incentive schemes differ according to intervention arm.
Experimental: Decreasing

Receives control intervention plus incentivized to attain daily step goals through lotteries:

Daily drawing procedure same as Ascending condition; structure of incentives is different: Participants can decrease their daily jackpots by failing to meet their step goals. Those who meet their goal for the first day of the week and who upload their data will be entered into a lottery where the small jackpot is $16 and the large jackpot is $160; if they successfully meet their step goal on the first day of the week, the jackpots will remain at $16/$160; if they do not meet their goal the jackpots will decrease to $14/$140, and so on such that if they fail to reach their goals each day, the jackpots on day seven will decrease to $4/$40.
Behavioral: Financial incentives for increasing physical exercise
Throughout the 12-week intervention, participants will receive step goals. The step goals will increase by 250 steps per week, The intervention will last a total of 12 weeks. After each seven-day week, step goals will increase by an additional 250 steps - thus over the 12 weeks, participants will be asked to increase their daily step count by 3,000. Participants will receive financial incentives to attain these step goals; the incentive schemes differ according to intervention arm.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Physical activity
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Time Frame
RAND 36-item Health Survey
Time Frame: 3mo, 6mo, 9mo
3mo, 6mo, 9mo
Health Stress questionnaire
Time Frame: 3mo, 6mo, 9mo
3mo, 6mo, 9mo
Emotional, Work, and Financial Attitudes questionnaire
Time Frame: 3mo, 6mo, 9mo
3mo, 6mo, 9mo
Weight loss
Time Frame: 3mo, 6mo, 9mo
3mo, 6mo, 9mo
Hemoglobin A1C
Time Frame: 6mo
6mo
Health behaviors questionnaire
Time Frame: 3mo, 6mo, 9mo
3mo, 6mo, 9mo
Word of mouth
Time Frame: 6mo, 9mo
6mo, 9mo
Physical activity
Time Frame: 6mo, 9mo
6mo, 9mo

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Harvard University

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Genzyme, a Sanofi Company
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Partners HealthCare

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Michael I. Norton, PhD, Harvard University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
April 1, 2013

Study Completion (Anticipated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
October 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 6, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 6, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 7, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
June 24, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
June 23, 2015

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
January 1, 2010

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • HBS-MN01

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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