SynthesisAnnals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine2023
Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Behavioral Economic Incentive Programs for Goal Achievement on Healthy Diet, Weight Control and Physical Activity: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Overcoming the HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Uptake Barrier With A Health Action Process Approach and Conditional Economic Incentives Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in 3 Chinese Cities: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2026Trial
- Lottery incentives for smoking cessation at the workplace: a cluster randomized trial.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- Secondary analysis of the Game of Stones trial for men with obesity: examining moderator effects and exploratory outcomes.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Association Between Behavioral Phenotypes and Paid Subscription and Renewal Among New mHealth App Users: Six-Month Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Promoting healthy behaviour with financial incentives: three challenges and solutions for large scale implementation.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2026Review
- Evaluating an Incentive-Based mHealth App for Physical Activity Promotion Using the Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trial Model: Small Cohort Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Prehabilitation in preparation for surgery.BMJ medicine · 2026Review
- Article
- The relationship between restrained eating and physical activity among female university students: a cross-lagged study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- The impact of monetary incentives and gamification on glucose levels: real-world assessment in people with diabetes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- How time and risk preferences affect glucose control in type 2 diabetes patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Heterogeneous effects on body mass index in the "checkup championship": A behavioral science-based health promotion program by health interest level.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Text messaging with or without financial incentives versus a waitlist control for weight loss in men: cost-effectiveness analysis of the Game of Stones randomised controlled trial.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2025Article
- Financial Incentives, Income Supplementation, Cash Transfer, and Universal Basic Income Interventions in Diabetes: Understanding Differences and Effectiveness: A Scoping Review.Diabetes care · 2025Article
- Article
- Effects of group communication norms on daily steps in a team-based financial incentive mobile phone intervention in Shanghai, China.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Article
- Promoting Influenza Vaccination Uptake Among Chinese Older Adults Based on Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model and Conditional Economic Incentive: Protocol for Randomized Controlled Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Advancing theory of motivation to change alcohol use: A commentary on Tan et al. (2023).Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHealthy diet, weight control and physical activity to reduce obesity can be motivated by financial incentives (FI). Behavioral-economic approaches may improve the incentivization effectiveness. This study compares and ranks the effectiveness of standard and behavioral incentivization for healthy diet, weight control, and physical activity promotion. PURPOSE: To investigate whether behavioral-economic insights improve incentivization effectiveness.
methodsA systematic search of Medline and Scopus was performed from database inception to December 2020. Study characteristics, program designs, and risk ratio (RR) were extracted. A two-stage network meta-analysis pooled and ranked intervention effects.
resultsThere were 35 eligible RCTs. For diet-weight control, standard FI, deposit contract (deposit), lottery-based incentive (lottery), and standard-FI + lottery increased goal achievement compared to no-FI but only deposit was statistically significant with pooled RRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of 1.21 (0.94, 1.56), 1.79 (1.04, 3.05), 1.45 (0.99, 2.13), and 1.73 (0.83, 3.63). For physical activity, standard-FI, deposit, and lottery significantly increased goal achievement compared to no-FI, with pooled RRs of 1.38 (1.13, 1.68), 1.63 (1.24, 2.14) and 1.43 (1.14, 1.80), respectively. In a follow-up period for physical activity, only deposit significantly increased goal achievement compared to no-FI, with pooled RRs of 1.39 (1.11, 1.73).
conclusionDeposit, followed by lottery, were best for motivating healthy diet, weight control and physical activity at program end. Post-intervention, deposit then standard-FI were best for motivating physical activity. Behavioral insights can improve incentivization effectiveness, although lottery-based approaches may offer only short-term benefit regarding physical activity. However, the imprecise intervention effects were major concerns.
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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.