30th Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making (October 19-22, 2008): APPLYING BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS TO A WEIGHT LOSS INTERVENTION

Tuesday, October 21, 2008: 11:45 AM

Grand Ballroom AB (Hyatt Regency Penns Landing)

Kevin Volpp¹, Leslie John², Andrea B. Troxel, Laurie Norton¹, Jennifer Fassbender³ and George Loewenstein, PhD², (1)Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, (2)Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, (3)University of Pennsylvania

In a weight loss intervention designed to leverage decision errors, participants were given a goal of losing 1 pound per week for 16 weeks and were randomized to either usual care or financial incentives. One incentive condition used deposit contracts in which participants put their own money at risk which they would lose if they failed to lose weight; the other was a lottery-based incentive scheme. Results were analyzed using intention-to-treat; subjects in both incentive conditions lost clinically and statistically significantly more weight than controls. Behavioral economics concepts could have a major impact in reducing the incidence of obesity-related illnesses.

See more of: Concurrent Session Abstracts D: Joint Session with Society for Judgment and Decision Making

See more of: 30th Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making (October 19-22, 2008)

D-2 APPLYING BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS TO A WEIGHT LOSS INTERVENTION