Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21348904›Full record

ArticleHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2011

Personal financial incentives in health promotion: where do they fit in an ethic of autonomy?

Richard E Ashcroft

Abstract readComment
In one paragraph

Article in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  15. Laypersons' views of material incentives for enhancing colorectal cancer screening.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2015
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  18. Patient health incentives: ethical challenges and frameworks.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2014
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Richard E AshcroftQueen Mary University of London, School of Law, London, UK. r.ashcroft@qmul.ac.uk

Funding

Wellcome Trust 086031Wellcome Trust WT086031MF
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimThis paper reviews the ethical controversy concerning the use of monetary incentives in health promotion, focussing specifically on the arguments relating to the impact on personal autonomy of such incentives.

backgroundOffering people small amounts of money in the context of health promotion and medical care has been attempted in a number of settings in recent years. This use of personal financial incentives has attracted a degree of ethical controversy. One form of criticism is that such schemes interfere with the autonomy of the patient or citizen in an illegitimate way.

methodsThis paper presents a thematic analysis of the main arguments concerning personal autonomy and the use of monetary incentives in behaviour change.

resultsThe main moral objections to the uses of incentives are that they may be in general or in specific instances paternalistic, coercive, involve bribery, or undermine the agency of the person.

conclusionWhile incentive schemes may engage these problems on occasion, there is no good reason to think that they do so inherently and of necessity. We need better behavioural science evidence to understand how incentives work, in order to evaluate their moral effects in practice.

Indexed as

Health PromotionMoral ObligationsMotivationPersonal AutonomyCoercionEthicsHealth BehaviorHumansSocial Responsibility

Identifiers

PMID21348904
PMCPMC3123700

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.