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) ...
References
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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 Scholar - 2.
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 Scholar - 3.
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 Scholar - 4.
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 Scholar - 5.
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 Information
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.
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