Behavioral Economic Incentives and Cancer Health Risk Assessment

February 19, 2019 updated by: Shivan J Mehta, University of Pennsylvania
This is an RCT among UPHS employees between ages 50-64 comparing no incentive and a loss-framed incentive for completing cancer health risk assessment. Those eligible will receive the phone number for direct colonoscopy scheduling, with the incentive arm receiving an additional unconditional incentive. The primary outcome is completion of screening colonoscopy. Secondary outcomes include scheduling of colonoscopy and completion of risk assessment.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Despite effective screening and treatment strategies, screening rates remain at 59-65%. UPHS employees have similarly limited rates of CRC screening despite having awareness, access, and insurance coverage. There is a need to identify those who are not up-to-date on screening and eligible for outreach in this population. Financial incentives informed by behavioral economic principles could be used to encourage self-report about screening status and completion of CRC screening. This research utilizes a digital health platform, Way to Health, to evaluate the feasibility of a cancer health risk assessment. This is a single-center RCT among UPHS employees between ages 50-64 that will randomize eligible participants into one of two study arms: (1) no incentive to complete cancer health risk assessment (no incentive) or (2) loss-framed incentive to complete cancer health risk assessment (incentive). Those that are eligible for screening will receive a direct access phone number to schedule colonoscopy, with an additional unconditional incentive for those in incentive arm. The primary outcome is completion of screening colonoscopy, with secondary outcomes of colonoscopy scheduling and completion of risk assessment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

2000

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
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • University of Pennsylvania Health System

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

50 years to 64 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion criteria:

  • male and female UPHS employees between the ages 50-64
  • those who live within 30 miles of the main endoscopy sites

Exclusion criteria:

-minimal exclusion 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: Screening
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: No incentive
Colon cancer risk assessment and direct access colonoscopy scheduling for those that are eligible.
Behavioral: No incentive
Each participant will receive an email describing the importance of colorectal cancer screening and that they have been selected to receive a risk assessment. They will directed to an online platform where they will be asked about age, family history, and prior screening history. Those who are eligible for screening will be offered the VIP access phone number to schedule an appointment.
Experimental: Incentive
Loss-framed incentive to participate in risk assessment and additional unconditional pro-social incentive to complete colorectal cancer screening.
Behavioral: Incentive
Each participant will receive an email describing the importance of colorectal cancer screening and that they have been selected to receive a risk assessment, for which they will received a loss-framed incentive. They will directed to an online platform where they will be asked about age, family history, and prior screening history. Those who are eligible for screening will be offered the VIP access phone number to schedule an appointment and will receive an additional unconditional pro-social incentive.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Colonoscopy participation
Time Frame: 3 months
The percent of participants who complete screening colonoscopy
3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Colonoscopy scheduling
Time Frame: 3 months
The percent of participants who schedule screening colonoscopy
3 months
Risk assessment completion
Time Frame: 3 months
The percent of participants who complete risk assessment
3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Pennsylvania

Collaborators

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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 (Actual)

May 8, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 8, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

November 8, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 24, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 24, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

March 1, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 20, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 19, 2019

Last Verified

February 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 826739
  • UL1TR001878 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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