Commitment Lotteries Promote Physical Activity Among Overweight Adults—A Cluster Randomized Trial. Issue 4 (25th January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: van der Swaluw, Koen; Lambooij, Mattijs S; Mathijssen, Jolanda J P; Schipper, Maarten; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Berkhout, Stef; Polder, Johan J; Prast, Henriëtte M
• Is Part Of: Annals of behavioral medicine. Volume 52:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 342
• Page End: 351
• Publication Date: 2018-01-25
• Subjects: Behavior change -- Physical activity -- Health promotion -- Commitment devices -- Behavioral economics -- Deadlines; Medicine and psychology -- Periodicals; Sick -- Psychology -- Periodicals; Behavioral Medicine; 616.0019
• DOI: 10.1093/abm/kax017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0883-6612

Abstract

Abstract : Psychologically designed lottery-deadlines promoted gym attendance among overweight adults. The combination of weekly commitment lotteries and an additional long-term lottery yielded the most durable effects. Abstract: Background: The World Health Organization has identified physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. People often intend to engage in physical activity on a regular basis, but have trouble doing so. To realize their health goals, people can voluntarily accept deadlines with consequences that restrict undesired future behaviors (i.e., commitment devices). Purpose: We examined if lottery-based deadlines that leverage regret aversion would help overweight individuals in attaining their goal of attending their gym twice per week. At each deadline a lottery winner was drawn from all participants. The winners were only eligible for their prize if they attained their gym-attendance goals. Importantly, nonattending lottery winners were informed about their forgone prize. The promise of this counterfactual feedback was designed to evoke anticipated regret and emphasize the deadlines. Methods: Six corporate gyms with a total of 163 overweight participants were randomized to one of three arms. We compared (i) weekly short-term lotteries for 13 weeks; (ii) the same short-term lotteries in combination with an additional long-term lottery after 26 weeks; and (iii) a control arm without lotteries. Results: After 13 weeks, participants in the lottery arms attained their attendance goals more often than participants in the control arm. After 26 weeks, we observe a decline in goal attainment in the short-term lottery arm and the highest goal attainment in the long-term lottery arm. Conclusions: With novel applications, the current research adds to a growing body of research that demonstrates the effectiveness of commitment devices in closing the gap between health goals and behavior. Clinical Trial information: This trial is registered in the Dutch Trial Register. Identifier: NTR5559