Can financial and charitable incentives motivate people to adopt an active lifestyle?
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN24436134 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN24436134 |
| Protocol serial number | N/A |
| Sponsor | Health IS Lab |
| Funders | CSS Insurance, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Universität St. Gallen |
- Submission date
- 24/02/2016
- Registration date
- 29/02/2016
- Last edited
- 17/12/2018
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Circulatory System
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
This study examines whether a financial incentive (gaining money) or a charitable incentive (a donation to a charitable organization) can motivate people to increase their daily physical activity. Daily physical activity has proven to be beneficial to prevent different chronic diseases such as obesity or diabetes. We used a step counter (pedometer) to measure physical activity.
Who can participate?
Customers of a large Swiss health insurance company registered in a complementary insurance program. They should be healthy and at least 18 years old.
What does the study involve?
Participants are randomly allocated to one of three different groups, according to their canton (state of residence), i.e. all participants living in a particular canton are placed in the same group. They are all given a pedometer and are instructed to achieve 10.000 steps per day on average each month. Participants in group 1 receive money if they reach their goal. Participants in group 2 also receive money but have the option of donating if they wish. Participants in group 3 receive no incentive.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
By taking part in the study participants can benefit from all positive effects associated with physical activity such as prevention of chronic diseases, improved health and well-being. Depending on the state of their health, participants might eventually encounter negative effects due to increased physical activity. However, people who are at risk of being negatively affected by physical activity do not fulfil the eligibility requirements of the study.
Where is the study run from?
Health-IS lab of the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and the ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
July 2015 to December 2015
Who is funding the study?
1. CSS Insurance (Switzerland)
2. Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (Switzerland)
3. University of St. Gallen (Switzerland)
Who is the main contact?
Tobias Kowatsch
Contact information
Scientific
Health IS Lab, Institute of Technology Management, University of St. Gallen, Dufourstrasse 40a
St. Gallen
9000
Switzerland
Study information
| Primary study design | Interventional |
|---|---|
| Study design | Longitudinal three arm cluster-randomized controlled trial |
| Secondary study design | Cluster randomised trial |
| Study type | Participant information sheet |
| Scientific title | Financial and Charity Incentives to Encourage Participation in a Physical Activity Promotion Program Offered by a Health Insurer: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial |
| Study objectives | The following research questions are addressed in our study: 1. Do financial and/or charitable incentives enhance the acceptance of and adherence to a pedometer based health intervention compared to a non-incentive control group? 2. Does a pedometer-based health intervention improve participants' subjective and objective measures of health status? 3. How does the participation in a pedometer-based health intervention affect the participants' perception of the provider of the intervention? 4. How do financial and charitable incentives affect the participants' perception of the provider of the intervention? |
| Ethics approval(s) | Ethics Committee of the University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland, 17/02/2016, ref: HSG-EC-2015-04-22-A |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Non-communicable diseases that can be affected by physical activity (for example, cardiovascular diseases or diabetes) |
| Intervention | Participants used a pedometer to track their daily physical activity. Two different incentive strategies are compared with a control-group that receives no incentives. In the financial incentive condition, participants receive a financial reward each month they achieve a physical activity goal that is associated with a health promoting lifestyle (10,000 steps per day on average) and a smaller reward if they achieve a physical activity goal that is associated with the physical activity minimum for a health promoting lifestyle (7,500 steps per day on average). Participants in the charitable condition receive the same reward but can decide whether to keep the money or donate it to a charitable organization. Participants in the control condition receive no incentives over the first half of the intervention. In the second half they get the opportunity to receive a financial reward that is twice the size of the reward in the financial incentive condition. That way, participants of all three groups have the chance to receive the same amount of money over the course of the intervention. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure(s) |
Participation rate (method: number of registered participants; timepoint: beginning of the intervention) |
| Key secondary outcome measure(s) |
1. Adherence to the intervention, assessed as number of days participants shared their number of steps, continuously measured over the course of the intervention |
| Completion date | 31/12/2015 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Healthy volunteer |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Lower age limit | 18 Years |
| Sex | All |
| Target sample size at registration | 1407 |
| Key inclusion criteria | 1. Participants have to be at least 18 years of age 2. Registered in a complementary insurance program 3. Acceptance of data security and participation conditions 4. Declaration of adequate health status for participation |
| Key exclusion criteria | 1. Under 18 years of age 2. Not registered in a complementary insurance program 3. No acceptance of data security and participation conditions 4. No declaration of adequate health status for participation |
| Date of first enrolment | 04/06/2015 |
| Date of final enrolment | 30/06/2015 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Switzerland
Study participating centres
9000
Switzerland
-
Switzerland
Results and Publications
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
|---|---|
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not expected to be made available |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not expected to be made available as no consent to share data from this study (anonymized or not) was obtained from participants. Participant data are stored in a locked room at the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland. Data access is protected by a password which is only known to the responsible researchers. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | results | 01/02/2019 | Yes | No | |
| Participant information sheet | Participant information sheet | 11/11/2025 | 11/11/2025 | No | Yes |
Editorial Notes
17/12/2018: Publication reference added.
19/03/2018: Scientific title was changed from 'Effects of charitable versus monetary incentives on the acceptance and continued use of a pedometer based health intervention: study protocol of a cluster-randomized controlled trial' to 'Financial and Charity Incentives to Encourage Participation in a Physical Activity Promotion Program Offered by a Health Insurer: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial'.
14/03/2018: Publication ad dissemination plan and participant level data were added.
12/03/2018: The public title was changed from 'Can financial and charitable incentives motivate people to adopt an active lifestyle? A study protocol' to 'Can financial and charitable incentives motivate people to adopt an active lifestyle?'
