Financial Incentives to Promote Stimulant Abstinence in a Community-Based Syringe Exchange Program

The goal of this randomized control pilot study is to learn about a financial incentives intervention among individuals who use stimulants and take part in a community-based syringe exchange program. The main question it aims to answer is how financial incentives for not using stimulants will impact stimulant use. Participants in the experimental group will have the opportunity to earn financial incentives for providing a negative urine sample for stimulants using a point-of-care test, which indicates abstinence from stimulant use, along with health education on the health risks of stimulant use and substance injection. Researchers will compare the experimental group to the control group who will receive health education on the health risks of stimulants use and injection.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stimulant Use
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Health Education; Behavioral: Incentives for Abstinence

Detailed Description

The investigators are proposing a two condition, parallel groups, randomized control pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of a financial incentives intervention among individuals who use stimulants and take part in a community-based syringe exchange program. The study design will include recruiting service recipients who already participate in programs offered by a syringe exchange program.The experimental group will have the opportunity to earn financial incentives contingent on providing a negative urine sample for stimulants using a point-of-care test, which indicates abstinence from stimulant use, in addition to health education on the health risks of stimulant use and substance injection. The control group will receive health education on the health risks of stimulants use and injection. All participants will participate in their syringe exchange services as usual. The investigators chose the health education as the control because participants across both conditions already receive the services provided by the syringe exchange program. Moreover, this control condition will help control for a potential type of between-groups variability.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 27
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Vermont
    • Burlington, Vermont, United States, 05401
      • Howard Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• be 18 years or older
• report using stimulants in the past 30 days
• meet the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) diagnosis for stimulant use disorder at a moderate or severe level (i.e., 6 or more of the 11 criteria)
• participation in services at syringe exchange program

Exclusion Criteria:

• failure to meet one or more inclusionary criteria
• individuals who are cognitively impaired by their drug use or psychiatric conditions that could preclude informed consent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Health Education	Behavioral: Health Education; The Health Education condition is based on a previous intervention used as a control in a number of other studies. Sessions consist of an educational program addressing a variety of health, wellness, and lifestyle topics adapted from a previously implemented wellness manual.
Experimental: Health Education plus Incentives for Abstinence	Behavioral: Health Education; The Health Education condition is based on a previous intervention used as a control in a number of other studies. Sessions consist of an educational program addressing a variety of health, wellness, and lifestyle topics adapted from a previously implemented wellness manual.; Behavioral: Incentives for Abstinence; Participants in the incentives for abstinence condition will have the opportunity to earn financial incentives for abstaining from stimulant use.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Stimulant Free Urine Sample	all samples will be assessed using point-of-care test urine drug test conducted at the center	12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Vermont

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 14, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 30, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): July 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 15, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 15, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): March 28, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 17, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 15, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: UVermont - FI for StimUD

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No