Small Cash Rewards for Big Losers

Augurzky, Boris; Bauer, Thomas K.; Reichert, Arndt R.; Schmidt, Christoph M.; Tauchmann, Harald

Small Cash Rewards for Big Losers

Autores

Augurzky, Boris

Bauer, Thomas K.

Reichert, Arndt R.

Schmidt, Christoph M.

Tauchmann, Harald

Editor

World Bank, Washington, DC

Descripción

This paper examines the sustainability of weight loss achieved through cash rewards and, for the first time, the potential of monetary incentives to prevent weight cycling. In a three period randomized controlled trial, about 700 obese persons were assigned to two treatment groups, which were promised different cash rewards contingent on the achievement of an individually assigned target weight, and to a control group. Successful participants were subsequently allocated to two treatment groups offered different monetary incentives for maintaining the previously achieved target weight and to a control group. This is the first experiment of this kind that finds sustainable effects of weight loss rewards on the body weight of the obese even 18 months after the rewards were removed. Additional incentives to maintain an achieved body weight improve the sustainability of weight loss only while are in place.

Palabras clave

PHARMACY, TREATMENT, FLOW, EATING DISORDERS, TIME, PHARMACISTS, RESEARCH WORKING PAPERS, PREVENTION, MORBIDITY, DATA COLLECTION, HEALTH CARE, PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, EFFECTS, HEALTH, EPIDEMIC, EATING HABITS, MEASUREMENTS, SCENARIO, MEASURES, ESTIMATORS, LIFE EXPECTANCY, PUBLIC HEALTH, EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN, KNOWLEDGE, DIETS, DISEASES, SCENARIOS, LIFE, PATIENTS, TESTS, EXPERIMENTS, INTERVENTION, SMOKING, WEIGHT‐ LOSS, NEGATIVE EFFECTS, MIGRATION, OBSERVATION, INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS, HAZARD, MEDICAL CARE, TUMOR, INDICATORS, RESEARCH, SYMPTOMS, MORTALITY, FIELD EXPERIMENTS, CANCER, ENDOCRINOLOGY, METHODS, DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH, DIAGNOSES, WORKERS, SCIENCE, MASS, VALIDITY, LIFESTYLE, AGE, HEALTH EFFECTS, MEDICINE, HEALTH OUTCOMES, EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES, EXAMINATIONS, MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY, PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERS, SPECIFICATION ERROR, CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY, CHOLESTEROL, SAMPLES, MEASUREMENT, SIZE, WEIGHT‐LOSS, SURVEYS, THERAPY, INSURANCE, WEIGHT, DENSITY, OBESITY, EXERCISE, THEORY, ESTIMATING, DISEASE, CLINICS, EVALUATION, ISOLATION, DISABILITY, REHABILITATION, HEART DISEASE, ESTIMATES, WEIGHT LOSS, WEIGHT REDUCTION, SMOKING CESSATION, STRATEGY, EPIDEMIOLOGY, CORONARY HEART DISEASE, GASTROENTEROLOGY, IMPLEMENTATION, WEIGHTING, SMOKING‐CESSATION