Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23102753›Full record

ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2012

"Pay them if it works": discrete choice experiments on the acceptability of financial incentives to change health related behaviour.

Marianne Promberger, Paul Dolan, Theresa M Marteau

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
62citing papers in PubMed, 9 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

62 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Incentives for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025
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  5. Incentives for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019
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  19. Reinforcing adherence to antihypertensive medications.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2015
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2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Marianne PrombergerHealth Psychology Section, Department of Psychology, King's College London, UK. marianne.promberger@kcl.ac.uk
Paul Dolan
Theresa M Marteau

Funding

Wellcome Trust 086031Wellcome Trust 086031/Z/08/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The use of financial incentives to change health-related behaviour is often opposed by members of the public. We investigated whether the acceptability of incentives is influenced by their effectiveness, the form the incentive takes, and the particular behaviour targeted. We conducted discrete choice experiments, in 2010 with two samples (n = 81 and n = 101) from a self-selected online panel, and in 2011 with an offline general population sample (n = 450) of UK participants to assess the acceptability of incentive-based treatments for smoking cessation and weight loss. We focused on the extent to which this varied with the type of incentive (cash, vouchers for luxury items, or vouchers for healthy groceries) and its effectiveness (ranging from 5% to 40% compared to a standard treatment with effectiveness fixed at 10%). The acceptability of financial incentives increased with effectiveness. Even a small increase in effectiveness from 10% to 11% increased the proportion favouring incentives from 46% to 55%. Grocery vouchers were more acceptable than cash or vouchers for luxury items (about a 20% difference), and incentives were more acceptable for weight loss than for smoking cessation (60% vs. 40%). The acceptability of financial incentives to change behaviour is not necessarily negative but rather is contingent on their effectiveness, the type of incentive and the target behaviour.

Indexed as

Choice BehaviorMotivationReimbursement, IncentiveRisk Reduction BehaviorAdultFemaleHumansLogistic ModelsMaleMiddle AgedPublic PolicyUnited Kingdom

Identifiers

PMID23102753
PMCPMC3686527

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.