University Of Pennsylvania Weight Loss Study
This is a 4-arm, randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of financial incentives to motivate and sustain long-term weight loss. The study will recruit eligible employees at a large health management company to participate in a 6-month weight loss program and have weight measurements for an additional 3-month follow-up period. The primary outcome measure in this randomized controlled trial will be pounds of weight lost. The experimental groups will include variations of deposit contracts (participants put their own money at risk, and lose that money if they fail to achieve their weight loss goal) and fixed payments. The use of deposit contracts is a powerful mechanism for inducing behavior change that is based on loss aversion, a psychological concept first described by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979. A deposit contract takes advantage of the fact that people typically feel the pain of a loss more than the pleasure of a gain, increasing ones motivation to reach a goal.
The study hypotheses are 1) mean weight loss will be greater in all intervention groups compared to the control group by the end of 24 weeks; and 2) individuals in the intervention groups will have a lower mean weight at the end of the 3-month follow-up period than individuals in the control group.
Descripción general del estudio
Estado
Condiciones
Tipo de estudio
Inscripción (Actual)
Fase
- No aplica
Contactos y Ubicaciones
Ubicaciones de estudio
-
-
Pennsylvania
-
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Estados Unidos, 19104
- University of Pennsylvania
-
-
Criterios de participación
Criterio de elegibilidad
Edades elegibles para estudiar
Acepta Voluntarios Saludables
Géneros elegibles para el estudio
Descripción
Inclusion Criteria:
- Aged 18 to 70 (inclusive)
- BMI between 30 and 50 (inclusive)
Exclusion Criteria:
- Inability to consent
- No known Illiteracy and/or inability to speak, read, and write English
- Participation in another weight loss program
- Participation in another research study
- Current treatment for drug or alcohol use
- Consumption of 5 alcoholic drinks per day
- Myocardial infarction or stroke within the past 6 months
- Uncontrolled hypertension (defined as BP170 mm Hg systolic or BP110 mm Hg diastolic)
- Current addiction to prescription medicines or street drugs
- Serious psychiatric diagnoses (severe depression, schizophrenia)
- Pregnancy
- Diabetic and using any medicine besides metformin to control blood sugars
- Metastatic cancer
- Unstable medical conditions that would likely prevent the subject from completing the study
- Previous diagnosis of an eating disorder
- History of unsafe weight loss behaviors such as binging or the use of laxatives
Plan de estudios
¿Cómo está diseñado el estudio?
Detalles de diseño
- Propósito principal: Tratamiento
- Asignación: Aleatorizado
- Modelo Intervencionista: Asignación paralela
- Enmascaramiento: Ninguno (etiqueta abierta)
Armas e Intervenciones
Grupo de participantes/brazo |
Intervención / Tratamiento |
|---|---|
|
Sin intervención: 1
|
|
|
Experimental: 2
Deposit contract with a 1:1 match
|
Daily weigh-in for 24 weeks and if each daily goal met daily deposit amount is paid back with an additional matched amount equal to deposited amount.
Final weigh-in at 36 weeks with no financial incentive or deposit made.
|
|
Experimental: 3
Deposit contract with a 2:1 match
|
Daily weigh-in for 24 weeks and if each daily goal met daily deposit amount is paid back with an additional matched amount twice the amount equal to deposited amount.
Final weigh-in at 36 weeks with no financial incentive or deposit made.
|
|
Experimental: Experimental 4
Deposit contract with no match
|
Daily weigh-in for 24 weeks and if each daily goal met the daily deposit amount is paid back.
Final weigh-in at 36 weeks with no financial incentive or deposit made.
|
¿Qué mide el estudio?
Medidas de resultado primarias
Medida de resultado |
Medida Descripción |
Periodo de tiempo |
|---|---|---|
|
Change in Weight
Periodo de tiempo: 24 Weeks
|
Change in weight between baseline and 24 weeks
|
24 Weeks
|
Colaboradores e Investigadores
Patrocinador
Investigadores
- Director de estudio: George Loewenstein, PhD, Carnegie Mellon University
- Silla de estudio: Kevin G. Volpp, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
- Director de estudio: Heather Schofield, MS, Harvard University
Publicaciones y enlaces útiles
Fechas de registro del estudio
Fechas importantes del estudio
Inicio del estudio (Actual)
Finalización primaria (Actual)
Finalización del estudio (Actual)
Fechas de registro del estudio
Enviado por primera vez
Primero enviado que cumplió con los criterios de control de calidad
Publicado por primera vez (Estimar)
Actualizaciones de registros de estudio
Última actualización publicada (Actual)
Última actualización enviada que cumplió con los criterios de control de calidad
Última verificación
Más información
Términos relacionados con este estudio
Palabras clave
Términos MeSH relevantes adicionales
Otros números de identificación del estudio
- 813407
Esta información se obtuvo directamente del sitio web clinicaltrials.gov sin cambios. Si tiene alguna solicitud para cambiar, eliminar o actualizar los detalles de su estudio, comuníquese con register@clinicaltrials.gov. Tan pronto como se implemente un cambio en clinicaltrials.gov, también se actualizará automáticamente en nuestro sitio web. .