Framing Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Adults
Authors: Jeremiah Weinstock, Nancy M. Petry
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2016)

Letters18 October 2016Framing Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese AdultsJeremiah Weinstock, PhD and Nancy M. Petry, PhDJeremiah Weinstock, PhDFrom Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, and University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut.Search for more papers by this author and Nancy M. Petry, PhDFrom Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, and University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L16-0281 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:Financial incentives can reinforce consumer behavior (for example, offering money back for using a specific credit card), and these procedures are gaining traction to modify health behaviors. Patel and colleagues' study examining the efficacy of incentives to reinforce walking 7000 steps daily (1) is commendable, and the results underscore the complex nature of these interventions and the behaviors that they are designed to influence. Reinforcement interventions are grounded in not only behavioral economics but also behavior analysis, which relies heavily on principles of operant conditioning. For example, reinforcing successive approximations toward the goal behavior (that is, shaping) ...References1. Patel MS, Asch DA, Rosin R, Small DS, Bellamy SL, Heuer J, et al. Framing financial incentives to increase physical activity among overweight and obese adults: a randomized, controlled trial. Ann Intern Med. 2016;164:385-94. [PMID: 26881417]. doi:10.7326/M15-1635 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Petry NM, Andrade LF, Barry D, Byrne S. A randomized study of reinforcing ambulatory exercise in older adults. Psychol Aging. 2013;28:1164-73. [PMID: 24128075] doi:10.1037/a0032563 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Petry NM, Peirce JM, Stitzer ML, Blaine J, Roll JM, Cohen A, et al. Effect of prize-based incentives on outcomes in stimulant abusers in outpatient psychosocial treatment programs: a national drug abuse treatment clinical trials network study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62:1148-56. [PMID: 16203960] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Volpp KG, John LK, Troxel AB, Norton L, Fassbender J, Loewenstein G. Financial incentive-based approaches for weight loss: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2008;300:2631-7. [PMID: 19066383] doi:10.1001/jama.2008.804 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Halpern SD, French B, Small DS, Saulsgiver K, Harhay MO, Audrain-McGovern J, et al. Randomized trial of four financial-incentive programs for smoking cessation. N Engl J Med. 2015;372:2108-17. [PMID: 25970009] doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1414293 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, and University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut.Disclaimer: The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.Grant Support: By the National Institutes of Health R01-DA033411, R01-DA027615, P50-DA09241, P60-AA03510, R01-HD075630, R01-AA021446, T32-AA07290, DP3-DK097705, and R01-AA023502.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L16-0281. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoFraming Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Adults Mitesh S. Patel , David A. Asch , Roy Rosin , Dylan S. Small , Scarlett L. Bellamy , Jack Heuer , Susan Sproat , Chris Hyson , Nancy Haff , Samantha M. Lee , Lisa Wesby , Karen Hoffer , David Shuttleworth , Devon H. Taylor , Victoria Hilbert , Jingsan Zhu , Lin Yang , Xingmei Wang , and Kevin G. Volpp Framing Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Adults Marc S. Mitchell and Paul I. Oh Framing Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Adults Mitesh S. Patel , David A. Asch , and Kevin G. Volpp Metrics 18 October 2016Volume 165, Issue 8Page: 599KeywordsBehaviorBehavioral economicsDisclosureExerciseMotivationOverweightWalking ePublished: 18 October 2016 Issue Published: 18 October 2016 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2016 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...