The Impact of Group Commitment Contracts on Smoking Cessation and Weight Loss

April 13, 2024 updated by: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
We will conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of group commitment contracts for smoking cessation and weight loss.

Study Overview

Status

Suspended

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Initial screening will be conducted online via the Qualtrics survey platform. Respondents meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria will immediately be randomized into one of the intervention arms described below, and then take a baseline survey. This baseline survey will also be conducted online via the Qualtrics survey platform. The initial screening, randomization, and baseline survey should take approximately 15 minutes total and can be completed anywhere the participant has an internet connection.

INTERVENTION: Respondents who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria will be randomized into one of the following arms:

  1. Control Arm (No Intervention)
  2. Group Contract Arm
  3. Individual Monetary Rewards Arm
  4. Individual Commitment Contract Arm

Subjects in Arms #2-4 will be cross-randomized into two subgroups:

A. Additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates."

B. No additional information treatments.

FOLLOW-UP SURVEY: After the participants finish their contract, they will be emailed a link to the follow-up survey that will be administered online via the Qualtrics survey platform. The survey should take approximately 5 minutes and can be completed anywhere the participant has an internet connection. Participants will be directly prompted to answer whether they have been able to quit smoking or lose their target weight in the past six months. If a participant self-reports a claim of smoking cessation or successful weight loss, they will be asked to furnish at-home verification of their claim.

IN-PERSON VERIFICATION: A randomly selected subset of successful participants will be asked for in-person verification of their claim with a urine test (smoking cessation) or in-person weigh-in (weight loss) at a Quest Diagnostics location of their choice.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

3600

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Evanston, Illinois, United States, 60208
        • Northwestern University, Global Poverty Research Lab

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 and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged 18 years or older
  • Has smartphone with capability to reach internet daily and download app
  • Able and willing to visit Quest location or take an at-home verification test
  • Willing to furnish a payment method for commitment contract stakes

If completing a smoking cessation contract:

  • Daily smoker

If completing a weight loss contract:

  • Has access to a functioning scale
  • Interest in losing weight at a pace of 2 lb or fewer per week, with a target BMI at or above 18.5

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnancy
  • Any terminal illness

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
Subjects are not offered a group commitment contract, individual commitment contract, or individual monetary rewards. Subjects do not receive additional information treatments.
Experimental: Group Commitment Contract + Information
Subjects are offered a group commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments.
Behavioral: Group Commitment Contract
A group contract where the primary individual, who will be tracked by the study, can invite peers to join the contract and form their group. To initiate a contract, a user must choose: the stakes, start date, and (for weight loss contracts) target weight, and and, optionally, to allow other members to have the power to invite other people to join the group.
Other: Information
In the initial survey, participants will receive additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates."
Experimental: Individual Monetary Rewards + Information
Subjects are offered individual monetary rewards for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments.
Other: Information
In the initial survey, participants will receive additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates."
Behavioral: Individual Monetary Rewards
Individuals eligible for a $100 monetary reward (incentive) following verified smoking cessation or weight loss.
Experimental: Individual Commitment Contract + Information
Subjects are offered an individual commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments.
Other: Information
In the initial survey, participants will receive additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates."
Behavioral: Individual Commitment Contract
Individuals will have the opportunity to create an individual commitment contract to quit smoking. They will have the option to set the stakes, start date, and (for weight loss contracts) target weight.
Experimental: Group Commitment Contract
Subjects are offered a group commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments.
Behavioral: Group Commitment Contract
A group contract where the primary individual, who will be tracked by the study, can invite peers to join the contract and form their group. To initiate a contract, a user must choose: the stakes, start date, and (for weight loss contracts) target weight, and and, optionally, to allow other members to have the power to invite other people to join the group.
Experimental: Individual Monetary Rewards
Subjects are offered individual monetary rewards for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments.
Behavioral: Individual Monetary Rewards
Individuals eligible for a $100 monetary reward (incentive) following verified smoking cessation or weight loss.
Experimental: Individual Commitment Contract
Subjects are offered an individual commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments.
Behavioral: Individual Commitment Contract
Individuals will have the opportunity to create an individual commitment contract to quit smoking. They will have the option to set the stakes, start date, and (for weight loss contracts) target weight.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Smoking Cessation / Weight Loss
Time Frame: 6 months
Participants will be directly prompted to answer whether they have been able to quit smoking or reach their target weight in the past six months. If a participant self-reports a claim of success, they will be asked to furnish at-home (and, in some cases, in-person) verification.
6 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Smoking Cessation / Weight Loss by Sex/Gender, Race, and Ethnicity
Time Frame: 6 months
Participants will be directly prompted to answer whether they have been able to quit smoking or reach their target weight in the past six months. If a participant self-reports a claim of success, they will be asked to furnish at-home (and, in some cases, in-person) verification.
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

Collaborators

Northwestern University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Dean Karlan, PhD, Northwestern University
  • Principal Investigator: Anna Tuchman, PhD, Northwestern University
  • Principal Investigator: Jonathan Zinman, PhD, Dartmouth College

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)

December 18, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 19, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 19, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 8, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 8, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

January 13, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 16, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 13, 2024

Last Verified

April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 0009

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

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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