Financial Incentives and Recruitment to the APT Webstudy (FIND-AD)

A Randomized Trial of Financial Incentives for the Recruitment of County Health System Patients to the Alzheimer Prevention Trials (APT) Webstudy

This single-blind, three-arm, randomized, controlled trial will assess the impact of messages and financial incentives on the enrollment of demographically diverse individuals to the Alzheimer Prevention Trials (APT) Webstudy. The APT Webstudy is a novel, online registry that employs quarterly cognitive testing using validated platforms. The APT Webstudy implements fully remote assessments, coordinated by the Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI) under USC IRB #HS-17-00746. The purpose of the current study is to test whether we can increase enrollment of diverse individuals into the registry. To do this, we will work with Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC), the county public hospital and its affiliated health centers in Contra Costa County, California, to test whether sending messages with and without financial incentives to patients who receive primary care with the health system can increase enrollment to the APT Webstudy. The investigators hypothesize that 1) a certain small financial incentive and an award opportunity based incentive (or a drawing with a prize) will increase enrollment rates of CCHS members into the APT Webstudy relative to the control group. The investigators further hypothesize that the award opportunity incentive will increase the enrollment rate of CCRMC patients into the APT Webstudy more than a certain financial incentive with the same expected value.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Dementia; Alzheimer Disease; Prodromal Alzheimer's Disease; Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Message; Behavioral: Financial Incentives

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 44844
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Martinez, California, United States, 94553
      • Contra Costa Health Plan

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

To be eligible to participate in this study, an individual must meet all of the following criteria:

• Patients empaneled at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC), the county public hospital and its affiliated health centers.
• Age 50 or older
• Literate in either English or Spanish

Exclusion Criteria:

• Below age 50
• Documentation of prior dementia diagnosis

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Messaging Only; 16,000 participants will be randomized to Arm 1 where no monetary incentive is offered.	Behavioral: Message; Message inviting participant to enroll
Experimental: Small Incentive; 16,000 participants will be randomized to Arm 2 where a small one-time monetary incentive is offered.	Behavioral: Financial Incentives; Small financial incentive or prize incentive
Experimental: Prize Incentive; 16,000 participants will be randomized to Arm 3 where an opportunity based incentive (or a drawing with a prize) with a single winner will be offered.	Behavioral: Financial Incentives; Small financial incentive or prize incentive

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Enrollment status into the APT Webstudy	APT Webstudy enrollment rate based on completion of at least one of the two APT Webstudy cognitive assessments (Cognitive Function Instrument [CFI] and/or Cogstate Brief Battery).	2-weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Cost per enrollee	Cost to acquire an enrollment	annual
Completion of cognitive assessments within the APT Webstudy	Completion of both APT Webstudy cognitive assessments (Cognitive Function Instrument [CFI] and/or Cogstate Brief Battery).	2-weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern California
• Collaborators: Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute; American Heart Association; Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• APT Webstudy

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 9, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 7, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): September 13, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): June 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 23, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Observational; Prevention; Alzheimer's; Trial-Ready Cohort
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Dementia; Tauopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Alzheimer Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: UP-22-01037

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The health system will not allow sharing of individual data on a public site. However, we will share data on request from investigators.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be made available within 6 months of publication.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Individual data shared upon request.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; 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