Poster - IRMACS Centre - Simon Fraser University

Acceptability of Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity among Older
Adults
1,2
Stephanie A Maganja ,
1Aging
Meghan G
2
Donaldson ,
& Dawn C
1,2
Mackey
and Population Health Lab, Simon Fraser University & 2Centre for Hip and Health Mobility, University of British Columbia
Background




Results
guidelines1.
88% of Canadian seniors do not meet national physical activity
Thus, new behaviour change strategies are needed.
Financial incentive strategies have improved health behaviours in adults2-5.
It is unknown whether such strategies are acceptable for older adults.
Research Questions
11%
16%
21%
10%
Financial
Incentive
Strategies
5%
11%
1. Which types of financial incentives strategies do older adults prefer?
2. Do older adults understand a variety of financial incentive strategies?
3. Would older adults participate in a study with financial incentives used to
increase physical activity?
Methods
 Recruited 14 community-dwelling, physically-inactive, older adults (≥ 65 yrs).
 Assessed 6 hypothetical financial incentive strategies for increasing physical
activity based on:
1. Interest (ranking in order of preference)
2. Understanding (calculating how much they would gain or lose)
3. Willingness (to participate in a study using financial incentives)
32%
47%
Fixed Payment
Indexed Payment
Commitment Contract
Lottery
Deposit Contract
Escalating Rewards
47%
Figure 2. Low Ranked Strategies
How often strategies were ranked
th
th
in the bottom two (5 or 6 ).
Figure 1. Top Ranked Strategies
How often strategies were ranked
in the top two (1st or 2nd).
Figure 3. All participants understood and
were able to calculate the amount of money
earned for each financial incentive strategy,
except for Indexed Payment (12 of 14
understood).
Results
Table 1. Participant Characteristics
Characteristic
N = 14
Age, yrs
74 (5.4)
Women, N(%)
10 (71.4)
Greater than High School Education, N(%)
12 (85.7)
BMI, kg/m2
28.1 (3.3)
SPPB Score (out of 12)
400 m walk time (mm:ss)
11 (10-12)**
“I believe people shouldn’t
just do things for money. Do
it for yourself.”
“I like group exercises, I
find it motivating.”
- When asked what else
motivates older adults
Despite comments from some about the importance of intrinsic motivation,
100% of participants said they would participate in a study that used financial
incentives as a form of motivation to increase physical activity.
6:19 (1:40)
Functional Comorbidity Score (# out of 18)
2 (1.7)
Montreal Cognitive Assessment Score (out of 30)
27 (2.2)
“[I get to] earn some
money for something I
should be doing anyway.”
“I’m aware I should
be doing more.”
Values are displayed as Mean (SD) unless otherwise noted. ** Median (Interquartile Range)
References and Acknowledgments
1. Canadian Health Measures Survey: Directly measured physical activity of Canadians, 2012 and 2013.
Statistics Canada Website.; 2. Charness G, Gneezy U. Econometrica, 2009;77(3):909-931.; 3. Mitchell MG,
et al. Am J Prev Med, 2013;45(5):658-667.; 4. Volpp K, et al. JAMA, 2008;300(22):2631-2637.; 5.Volpp K,
et al. N Engl J Med, 2009;360(7):699-709.
Limitations & Future Research
 This was a pilot study with a small sample size.
 Future research should examine whether financial incentive strategies result in
higher levels of physical activity among older adults.
Conclusions
The study was funded by a CIHR Randomized Controlled Trial Mentorship Program held by
MG Donaldson. SA Maganja was supported by an SFU VPR USRA and the SFU LiVWELL
Research Group. DC Mackey was supported by an MSFHR Scholar Award.
 Older adults were interested in financial incentive strategies for increasing
physical activity and able to understand a variety of strategies.