UPHS Weight Loss Study

University of Pennsylvania201 enrolled

Overview

The goal of this study is to compare a novel approach using financial incentives to changes in health benefit design and their impact on employee weight loss.

Employers are increasingly looking for opportunities to encourage weight loss among employees. While studies have shown that financial incentives can effectively encourage weight loss, little is known about their use in health benefits design. The goal of this study is to determine whether a financial incentive program delivered to obese University of Pennsylvania Health System employees can effectively encourage weight loss when compared to changes in health benefit design. This is a randomized controlled trial involving financial incentives with four study arms: control, delayed gratification, immediate gratification, and financial incentive with frequent feedback. Participation in this study will last about 12 months. The primary goal of the study is to test the effects of a novel financial incentive program using a lottery with frequent feedback to normal benefit design structures.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

201

Conditions

Obesity

Interventions

Financial incentiveBEHAVIORAL

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 70 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Adults age 18-70 * BMI of 30 or above Exclusion Criteria: * Inability to consent * Illiteracy and/or inability to speak, read, and write English * Participation in another research study Conditions that would make participation unsafe: * Current treatment for drug or alcohol use * Consumption of at least 5 alcoholic drinks per day * Myocardial infarction or stroke within the past 6 months * Current addiction to prescription medicines or street drugs * Serious psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., severe major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia) * Pregnant or currently breastfeeding * Diabetic and using any medicine besides metformin to control blood glucose * 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

Locations (1)

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Total pounds of weight lost

Time frame: 12 months

Secondary Outcomes

Weight loss of 5% of initial weight

Time frame: 12 months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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