Behavioral Economics Incentives for Health Management

March 31, 2017 updated by: Jason Doctor, University of Southern California

Evaluation of Behavioral Economics Patient Incentive Strategies for Health Management

Incentives are increasingly being used to motivate health behavior in medical studies. Small cash payments conditional on certain health and welfare promoting behaviors have shown efficacy in both real world and experimental settings. Furthermore, in incentive studies, behavioral economics has been shown to amplify behavior change beyond what is possible with simple cash payments, but little is known about how varying incentive payment design may impact health behavior. The goal of the present study is to evaluate a new incentive payment instrument, lottery insurance, to determine its impact on adherence to the target health behavior, attendance at free exercise classes provided by QueensCare Family Clinics, a safety-net medical clinic.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

152

Phase

  • 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
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90027
        • Queenscare Family Clinics

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 64 years (ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18 to 64 years of age
  • BMI between 25-40
  • Receiving care in QueensCare Family Clinics

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Failure to obtain exercise clearance from physician

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: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Lottery Insurance
All participants receive a one time, $10 payment for attending the first exercise class of the 12 week session. Participants in the 'Lottery Insurance' arm receive a lottery ticket valued at $20 for attending either a Monday or Tuesday exercise class. They have the option to insure their lottery ticket by attending a second exercise class during the week on either Wednesday or Thursday. If they do not attend the second class, they have a 90% chance of winning the weekly lottery. This sequence is repeated each week over the 12 week exercise session.
Behavioral: Lottery Insurance
EXPERIMENTAL: Standard Lottery
All participants receive a one time, $10 payment for attending the first exercise class of the 12 week session. Subjects in the 'Standard Lottery' arm receive a lottery ticket valued at $20 for attending either a Monday or Tuesday exercise class. They also receive the expected value of the insurance ($2) for attending a second exercise class during the week on either Wednesday or Thursday. They have a 90% chance of winning the weekly lottery. This sequence is repeated each week over the 12 week exercise session.
Behavioral: Standard Lottery

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Attendance at exercise classes
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Attendance at exercise classes over the 12 week session will be analyzed across 'Lottery Insurance' and 'Standard Lottery' arms.
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Body Mass Index
Time Frame: Change from Baseline Body Mass Index at 12 weeks
Change from Baseline Body Mass Index (based on Centers for Disease Control calculations) at 12 weeks (post exercise session) will be assessed.
Change from Baseline Body Mass Index at 12 weeks
HbA1c
Time Frame: Change from Baseline HbA1c at 12 weeks
Change from Baseline glycemic control (measured as percentage glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA1c] as part of a fasting blood sample) at 12 weeks (post exercise session) will be assessed.
Change from Baseline HbA1c at 12 weeks
Blood Pressure
Time Frame: Change from Baseline Blood Pressure at 12 weeks
Change from Baseline Blood Pressure at 12 weeks (post exercise session) will be assessed.
Change from Baseline Blood Pressure at 12 weeks
LDL cholesterol
Time Frame: Change from Baseline LDL at 12 weeks
Change from Baseline LDL cholesterol (measured as part of a lipid panel) at 12 weeks (post exercise session) will be assessed.
Change from Baseline LDL at 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Southern California

Collaborators

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Institute on Aging (NIA)

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

April 1, 2012

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

August 1, 2014

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

August 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 5, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 29, 2013

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 4, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

April 4, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 31, 2017

Last Verified

March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RC4AG039115-03 (NIH)
  • RC4AG039115 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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