Testing Strategies to Encourage Weight Loss in an Employer Setting

Summary

This is a 3-arm pilot randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of two novel ways of structuring financial incentives to motivate and sustain long-term weight loss. The study will recruit eligible employees at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to participate in a 6-month weight loss program and an additional 3-month follow-up period. The primary outcome measure in this randomized control trial will be pounds of weight lost between baseline and 6 months. The goal of this study is to evaluate whether a novel financial incentive program delivered through a workplace can effectively encourage sustained weight loss among obese employees.

The study hypotheses are 1) mean weight loss will be greater in all the intervention groups compared to the control group by the end of the 24-week intervention period; and 2) individuals in the intervention groups will have a lower mean weight at the end of the 12-week follow-up period than individuals in the control group.

Conditions

• Weight Loss

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

No intervention

Monthly weigh-ins for 6 months without financial incentives associated with weight loss, and follow-up weigh-in at 9 months

BEHAVIORAL

Group-based payout

Monthly weigh-ins for 6 months where five sequential participants, randomized to this condition, will be joined into virtual groups where individual rewards for weight loss are dependent on the weight loss of others in the group, with follow-up weigh in at 9 months

BEHAVIORAL

Individual payout

Monthly weigh-ins for 6 months and if monthly goals are met, participants receive payout at the end of the month, with follow-up weigh-in at 9 months

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  collaborator OTHER

• incentaHEALTH

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  collaborator NIH

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Pennsylvania

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD · University of Pennsylvania

• Jeffrey T Kullgren, MD, MPH · University of Pennsylvania

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-03-31

Primary Completion

2012-01-31

Completion

2014-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations