Behavioral Economics-Based Online Lifestyle Balance Program

National University of Singapore

Status: Completed

Conditions: Weight Reduction; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice

Treatments: Behavioral: Incentive for Education; Behavioral: Incentive for Weight Loss

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03534336

A-14-071

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objective of this project is to design a Behavioral Economics Based Online Lifestyle Balance Program that employs behavioral economics to engage and motivate adherence to an Internet-based program. The investigators compare the effects of two financial incentives on inducing weight loss: a direct financial incentive for weight loss and a financial incentive for health literacy.

Full description

This project investigates whether participants in an online weight loss program can be induced to achieve weight loss using financial incentives. The study is a 3-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) stratified by gender. The goal is to examine how overweight individuals respond to two different types of financial incentives. The first type of incentive, incentive for weight loss (IW), is a cash award of approximately $150 given for achieving 5% weight loss over 12 weeks. The second type of incentive, incentive for education (IE), is a $150 award for passing quizzes that test the participants' health literacy about weight loss and the techniques required for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The investigators compare the effectiveness of IW to IE in promoting weight loss in overweight individuals and investigate whether the two incentives work equally well for men and women.

Enrollment: 710 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 40 to 60 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• BMI between 23 and 33
• Age between 40 and 60 years old

Exclusion criteria

• History of diabetes
• History of significant cardiovascular disease
• Family history of atherosclerosis
• High blood pressure
• Significant lung disease

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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710 participants in 3 patient groups

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants are enrolled in a 12-week, self-administered online weight loss program. The program is delivered through 12 weekly sessions; each includes educational videos and a health literacy quiz. Each quiz contains 10 questions, and a quiz is considered "passed" when at least 7 questions are answered correctly. All participants are encouraged to follow the program, take the quizzes, and lose 5% of their baseline body weight by the end of the program. No financial incentives are given for losing weight or passing quizzes.

Incentive for Education

Experimental group

Description:

Same 12-week, self-administered online weight loss program as in the Control arm. Each participant is also given a $150 "Incentive for Education" for passing at least nine quizzes by the end of the program.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Incentive for Education

Incentive for Weight Loss

Experimental group

Description:

Same 12-week, self-administered online weight loss program as in the Control arm. Each participant is also given a $150 "Incentive for Weight Loss" for losing 5% of their baseline body weight.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Incentive for Weight Loss