ArticleJournal of obesity2012
Financial motivation undermines maintenance in an intensive diet and activity intervention.
Article in Journal of obesity, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03157713 (Financial Incentive Strategies for Weight Loss in Obese Patients Living in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Neighborhoods), which is not on this map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Financial Incentive Strategies for Weight Loss in Obese Patients Living in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Neighborhoods
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Enhancing Weight Loss Programs: A Meta-Analysis of Financial Incentives and Behavior Change Techniques.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of financial incentives for dietary behavior change.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2014Pooled it
- Predicting Outcomes from Engagement With Specific Components of an Internet-Based Physical Activity Intervention With Financial Incentives: Process Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Trial
- Using financial incentives to promote physical activity in American Indian adolescents: A randomized controlled trial.PloS one · 2018Trial
- Effectiveness of a worksite-based weight loss randomized controlled trial: the worksite study.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2015Trial
- Benefits of adding small financial incentives or optional group meetings to a web-based statewide obesity initiative.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2015Trial
- Financial motivation undermines potential enjoyment in an intensive diet and activity intervention.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2014Trial
- Enhancing Text Message Support With Media Literacy and Financial Incentives for Vaping Cessation in Young Adults: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- How to Prevent the Drop-Out: Understanding Why Adults Participate in Summative eHealth Evaluations.Journal of healthcare informatics research · 2023Article
- Maintaining or Losing Intervention-Induced Health-Related Behavior Change. A Mixed Methods Field Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Sustaining the reach of a scalable weight loss intervention through financial incentives- a pragmatic, feasibility, online randomized trial protocol.Contemporary clinical trials · 2020Article
- A qualitative study to examine how differences in motivation can inform the development of targeted physical activity interventions for African American women.Evaluation and program planning · 2019Article
- Article
- Exploring parent attitudes around using incentives to promote engagement in family-based weight management programs.Preventive medicine reports · 2018Article
- Secondary data analysis from a randomized trial examining the effects of small financial incentives on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for weight loss.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2017Article
- Motivation and perceived competence for healthy eating and exercise among overweight/obese adolescents in comparison to normal weight adolescents.BMC obesity · 2017Article
- Active children through incentive vouchers - evaluation (ACTIVE): a mixed-method feasibility study.BMC public health · 2016Article
- The Promise of Tailoring Incentives for Healthy Behaviors.International journal of workplace health management · 2016Article
- Cultivating Engagement and Enjoyment in Exergames Using Feedback, Challenge, and Rewards.Games for health journal · 2015Review
- Acceptability of financial incentives and penalties for encouraging uptake of healthy behaviours: focus groups.BMC public health · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Financial incentives are widely used in health behavior interventions. However, self-determination theory posits that emphasizing financial incentives can have negative consequences if experienced as controlling. Feeling controlled into performing a behavior tends to reduce enjoyment and undermine maintenance after financial contingencies are removed (the undermining effect). We assessed participants' context-specific financial motivation to participate in the Make Better Choices trial-a trial testing four different strategies for improving four health risk behaviors: low fruit and vegetable intake, high saturated fat intake, low physical activity, and high sedentary screen time. The primary outcome was overall healthy lifestyle change; weight loss was a secondary outcome. Financial incentives were contingent upon meeting behavior goals for 3 weeks and became contingent upon merely providing data during the 4.5-month maintenance period. Financial motivation for participation was assessed at baseline using a 7-item scale (α = .97). Across conditions, a main effect of financial motivation predicted a steeper rate of weight regained during the maintenance period, t(165) = 2.15, P = .04. Furthermore, financial motivation and gender interacted significantly in predicting maintenance of healthy diet and activity changes, t(160) = 2.42, P = .016, such that financial motivation had a more deleterious influence among men. Implications for practice and future research on incentivized lifestyle and weight interventions are discussed.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.