Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Understand and Improve Financial Decision Making Among Vulnerable Older Adults (Discovery)

Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Understand and Improve Financial Decision Making Among Vulnerable Older Adults

This study seeks to:

• Identify behavioral preference patterns that characterize older adults vulnerable to financial exploitation.
• Estimate the extent to which biases in decision-making process influence financial decisions among older adults vulnerable to financial exploitation to refine information content and behavioral 'nudge' strategies.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Financial Exploitation of Older Adults

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 400

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Abdelaziz Alsharawy, PhD; Phone Number: (713) 500-9000; Email: Abdelaziz.Alsharawy@uth.tmc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

For online-only participation, 200 older adults (OAs) recruited via Prolific, a crowdsourcing platform. Those participating in-lab at the Health Decision Science Lab will include 200 OAs recruited from the Houston area (that is, participants who signed up to the study team's SONA system database).

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults over the age of 60
• English speakers, to ensure comprehension of study tasks

Exclusion Criteria:

• Less than age 60
• Non-English speaker

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Older Adults who are less vulnerable to financial exploitation; Vulnerability to financial exploitation will be assessed via the Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale (FEVS) assessment.
Older Adults who are more vulnerable to financial exploitation; Vulnerability to financial exploitation will be assessed via the Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale (FEVS) assessment.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Frequency of choosing the riskier option on the risk tolerance decision-making task	Participants will complete a decision-making session that captures multiple dimensions of behavioral preferences via incentivized choice-based tasks with real monetary rewards. The study team will administer the following decision-making task via a web-based survey platform to characterize risk tolerance (willingness to accept uncertain outcomes). The task involves multiple rounds (between 20 to 40) that vary option-specific information to facilitate mapping of elicited behavioral responses onto parameters characterizing standard utility functions.	During the time of the decision-making task (about 5-10 minutes)
Frequency of choosing the more trusting option on the trust decision-making task	Participants will complete a decision-making session that captures multiple dimensions of behavioral preferences via incentivized choice-based tasks with real monetary rewards. The study team will administer the following decision-making task via a web-based survey platform to characterize interpersonal trust (willingness to accept being vulnerable to other people). The task involves multiple rounds (between 20 to 40) that vary option-specific information to facilitate mapping of elicited behavioral responses onto parameters characterizing standard utility functions.	During the time of the decision-making task (about 5-10 minutes)
Frequency of choosing the more altruistic option on the altruism decision-making task	Participants will complete a decision-making session that captures multiple dimensions of behavioral preferences via incentivized choice-based tasks with real monetary rewards. The study team will administer the following decision-making task via a web-based survey platform to characterize altruism (willingness to incur a financial cost to benefit another person). The task involves multiple rounds (between 20 to 40) that vary option-specific information to facilitate mapping of elicited behavioral responses onto parameters characterizing standard utility functions.	During the time of the decision-making task (about 5-10 minutes)
Frequency of choosing the more patient option on the impatience decision-making task	Participants will complete a decision-making session that captures multiple dimensions of behavioral preferences via incentivized choice-based tasks with real monetary rewards. The study team will administer the following decision-making task via a web-based survey platform to characterize patience (willingness to forego a sooner reward for a bigger future reward). The task involves multiple rounds (between 20 to 40) that vary option-specific information to facilitate mapping of elicited behavioral responses onto parameters characterizing standard utility functions.	During the time of the decision-making task (about 5-10 minutes)
Frequency of choosing the less loss-averse option on the loss-aversion decision-making task	Participants will complete a decision-making session that captures multiple dimensions of behavioral preferences via incentivized choice-based tasks with real monetary rewards. The study team will administer the following decision-making task via a web-based survey platform to characterize loss aversion (tendency to weigh potential losses more heavily than equivalent gains). The task involves multiple rounds (between 20 to 40) that vary option-specific information to facilitate mapping of elicited behavioral responses onto parameters characterizing standard utility functions.	During the time of the decision-making task (about 5-10 minutes)
Physiological arousal as measured via heart rate	Participants recruited for in-lab sessions will complete the decision-making tasks while also sitting before a monitor with an eye-tracker to monitor attention, a webcam to monitor facial expressions, and with a wireless device (non-invasive transmitter placed on participant's wrist with two electrodes attached to finger) worn to monitor physiological measurements (heart rate and skin conductance) while completing the choice-based tasks.	During the time of the decision-making tasks (about 20-40 minutes)
Physiological arousal as measured via skin conductance	Participants recruited for in-lab sessions will complete the decision-making tasks while also sitting before a monitor with an eye-tracker to monitor attention, a webcam to monitor facial expressions, and with a wireless device (non-invasive transmitter placed on participant's wrist with two electrodes attached to finger) worn to monitor physiological measurements (heart rate and skin conductance) while completing the choice-based tasks.	During the time of the decision-making tasks (about 20-40 minutes)
Physiological arousal as measured via pupil dilation	Participants recruited for in-lab sessions will complete the decision-making tasks while also sitting before a monitor with an eye-tracker to monitor attention, a webcam to monitor facial expressions, and with a wireless device (non-invasive transmitter placed on participant's wrist with two electrodes attached to finger) worn to monitor physiological measurements (heart rate and skin conductance) while completing the choice-based tasks.	During the time of the decision-making tasks (about 20-40 minutes)
Frequency of facial expressions associated with valence and engagement	Participants recruited for in-lab sessions will complete the decision-making tasks while also sitting before a monitor with an eye-tracker to monitor attention, a webcam to monitor facial expressions, and with a wireless device (non-invasive transmitter placed on participant's wrist with two electrodes attached to finger) worn to monitor physiological measurements (heart rate and skin conductance) while completing the choice-based tasks. Facial expressions will be assessed using a facial expression analysis system (iMotions software).	During the time of the decision-making tasks (about 20-40 minutes)
Attention as assessed by eye fixations	Participants recruited for in-lab sessions will complete the decision-making tasks while also sitting before a monitor with an eye-tracker to monitor attention, a webcam to monitor facial expressions, and with a wireless device (non-invasive transmitter placed on participant's wrist with two electrodes attached to finger) worn to monitor physiological measurements (heart rate and skin conductance) while completing the choice-based tasks. Relative fixation duration on each option in the behavioral tasks will be measured via an eye tracker (SmartEye).	During the time of the decision-making tasks (about 20-40 minutes)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Response time during the behavioral tasks	Response time will be reported as the time from stimulus presentation to choice, in milliseconds.	During the time of the decision-making tasks (about 20-40 minutes)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Collaborators: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Abdelaziz Alsharawy, PhD, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 26, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 26, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): July 6, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 7, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 2, 2026
• Last Verified: July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: behavioral nudging; financial exploitation; financial decision-making; scam
• Other Study ID Numbers: HSC-SPH-25-0344 (Discovery); P30AG086563 (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