Paying the Patient

I just came across this great meta-analysis of positive and negative incentives that are used to motivate patient behavior across a wide range of behavioral health issues: diet, smoking, STDs, and so on. A quick summary:

• The most successful schemes are positive incentives tied to small behaviors.
• Lottery-style incentives appear to increase recruitment and participation (smoking cessation, weight loss), but there was significant relapse when the incentives were removed.
• The greater the lottery reward, the greater the participation.
• Incentive amount is relative, based upon income level. Lower income = lower incentive needed to simulate behavior.
• Incentives that focus attention on the reward, and not the behavior, have limited long-term benefit/persistence.

You can find it at: http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/BCC2F5C3-B685-4FF1-AE77-39C52F4ED247/0/payingthepatient.pdf