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Background: Children and adolescents with diabetes mellitus (DM) are faced with a unique set of challenges associated with the management of their disease. There is evidence that extrinsic rewards can help patients to meet health goals. Gift cards were used as incentives. Objective: Assess the incentive program’s impact on patient hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) during the program’s first year. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted of all clinic patients with DM with clinic visits between February 24, 2018 and December 31, 2019. Any patient with DM seen in the TMCOne Pediatric Endocrinology clinic who set a behavioral modification and achieved that goal were included. Patients set two goals at each visit. In phase 1, if two goals were met patients received a $5 gift card or a small prize. In phase 2, if two subsequent goals were met, a $10 gift card or a larger prize was awarded. In phase 3, if four subsequent goals were met, a $20 gift card was rewarded. HbA1C values were recorded at baseline and after goals 2, 4, and 8. Results: At baseline N=123 (45% F; ages 1-22), with a mean HbA1c of 8.3% (SD= 2.2). In phase 1, the change after the first two behavior modification goals were achieved was -0.19 (P = 0.43; SD=2.6). Only 37 were able to achieve goals 3 and 4. In phase 2, the mean HbA1c was 7.7% (SD= 1.9) and the change in HbA1c was -0.19 (P = 0.66y; SD=1.16). In phase 3, only 4 of the 123 patients were able to achieve goals 5, 6, 7 and 8. The mean HbA1c was 6.5% (SD=0.98). The change in HbA1c was +0.73 (P = 0.17; SD=0.66). Conclusion: This study demonstrates the potential of extrinsic incentives to achieve the behavioral goals did not result in improvement of HbA1c values. The number of children who were able to achieve goals 3 and 4 dropped drastically compared to the those who are able to achieve goals 1 and 2. In addition, the mean HBA1c value dropped which with each phase. The SD of each phase also decreased. We surmise patients who maintained excellent control were more likely to start and complete the behavior change goals over an extended period of time. Disclosure C.K. Wu: None. P.G. Patel: None. J. Lai: None. A. Bashar: Other Relationship; Self; Medtronic. K.M. Siderewicz: None. R. Tiwari: None. N.J. Cuzman: None. K. Payton: None. S. Goral: None. C.M. Patel: None. Funding TMC Foundation

Crowdfunding was first used by individuals and entrepreneurs to collect small-sized investments from crowds to support for-profit ventures, but now it is being touted as a valuable alternative to raise money for non-profit causes. Similar to various online settings, a key challenge for online charitable crowdfunding platform is the problem of donor retention. In this research, we disentangle donor retention behavior and build up a structural model to jointly examine donors' donation and latent attrition. By incorporating donation relationship and action related covariates into the model, we illustrate the drivers of donor retention and quantitatively examine their influence on individual donor's contribution and attrition activity. After calibrating the model with longitudinal donation transaction data from a leading charitable crowdfunding platform which enables teachers to request materials and resources for their classrooms, we find that (1) Teacher-donors (people who can be both donation makers and fundraisers) usually exhibit higher donation rate and lower attrition rate than normal donors on the platform; (2) Compared with site-donors (donors directly acquired through website visit), donors acquired through teacher referral usually have lower contribution and attrition rates; (3) The provided “charity gift card” and “donation matching offer” prosocial marketing programs on the platform seem to be a double-edged sword to donor retention. They have positive impact on donors' contribution rate, at the same time, they significantly increase donors' attrition rate; (4) Donors' initial contribution amount to the platform, successful donation result and “Thank-You” feedback from fundraisers can significantly decrease their attrition rate. Our results provide insights on new donor acquisition and donor relationship management in online charitable crowdfunding market., Highlights • Illustrate online donors’ retention through donor contribution and latent attrition process • Jointly depict donors’ correlated contribution and latent attrition behavior • Incorporate covariates to illustrate the drivers of donors’ retention behavior • Provide managerial insights on donor acquisition and relationship management decisions

Background Workplaces that provide opportunities for physical activity without requiring extra time for activity could help counteract the obesity epidemic. Desk ellipticals can contribute to activity-supportive workplace environments; however, the feasibility of engaging employees in pedaling ellipticals during simultaneous office work has not been well evaluated. Objective We aim to present the rationale and methods from an ongoing randomized trial with overweight and obese employees that will evaluate (1) the effects of pedaling a compact desk elliptical on work performance and (2) the influence of different incentive types and schedules on desk pedaling quantity. Methods Overweight and obese medical center employees are being recruited in dyads for a 2 (gift card type: healthier food vs Amazon) by 3 (gift card schedule: immediate incentive contingent on individual pedaling quantity; immediate incentive partially contingent on dyads’ joint pedaling quantity; and delayed noncontingent pedaling incentive) cluster randomized within-subjects factorial trial. All participants receive a Bluetooth-enabled desk elliptical for 4 weeks and access to a mobile app that provides real-time pedaling feedback. The primary aims are to assess (1) change in employee work performance from pre- to postelliptical installation via employee and supervisor ratings and (2) effects of gift card type and schedule on quantity of objectively measured desk pedaling completed. Results Data collection is ongoing. We expect to complete main outcome analyses in 2020. Conclusions This trial represents one of the earliest attempts to assess the effects of desk pedaling and pedaling-incentive types in real-world offices. It could help bridge the research-to-practice gap by providing evidence on whether desk pedaling can be sustained without compromising work performance. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/16275

Gift cards account for a $200 billion market in the US, yet little is known about consumers’ preferences and valuations of different gift cards. We examine how average US consumers feel about exchanging luxury brand gift cards (LGCs) versus non-luxury brand gift cards (NLGCs). Using secondary data analyses, surveys, and experiments, we demonstrate two asymmetries: between valuations of LGCs versus NLGCs and between valuations of gift cards by givers versus recipients. We show that LGCs are valued less than NLGCs with identical price tags. LGCs are more likely to be swapped or sold. Resellers demand and buyers pay lower prices for LGCs. These effects are mediated by the perceived utility of the gift cards as gifts and moderated by a person’s role in the gifting process. Gift givers value and prefer to give LGCs more, whereas recipients prefer and value NLGCs more.

Purpose The endowment effect is well-established in economics, psychology and marketing where sellers place a higher value on a good than buyers. One potential moderator, namely, power is explored. The authors predicted that feeling powerful can reverse the effect, making buyers place a higher value on a good than sellers. Design/methodology/approach The authors manipulated power to assess the effects on the valuation of three different products (keychain, gift card and iPhone case). They also assessed participants’ focus on parting with the good (money), which is a loss, and receiving money (the good), which is a gain, for sellers (buyers). Findings Feelings of power reduced sellers’ prices but they increased buyers’. Crucially, the authors observed the endowment effect, but only under conditions of low power. When participants had high power, the effect reversed, with buyers placing a higher value on the good under transaction than sellers. Process data indicated that powerful buyers and sellers focused on what they gained and less on what they lost, compared to powerless buyers and sellers. Research limitations/implications The authors link the construct of power with the endowment effect, showing that the former can moderate the latter. Certainly, the endowment effect is well-established, but there are moderators and boundary conditions that warrant consideration. Practical implications The results suggest a case where the market may clear, where buyers value a consumer product more than sellers, and thus buyers would likely accept the offer made by sellers. Originality/value The authors are the first to link the power literature with the endowment effect. They also show a possible moderator for the well-established endowment effect.

Many retailers are now offering bonus gift cards to entice customers to buy more regular gift cards. The most common offers are a $5 bonus card with $25 worth of gift card purchases or a $10 bonus ...

Incentives can promote adult wellness. We sought to examine whether incentives might help overcome barriers to engagement in child weight management programs and the ideal value, type and recipient of incentives. In 2017, we conducted semi-structured phone interviews with parents of children ≤17 years old, formerly or currently affected by obesity, who had (n = 11) or had never (n = 12) participated in family-based behavioral treatment (FBT) for obesity. Interviews explored the range and type of incentives families would be willing to accept. Interview transcripts were coded and data were analyzed using a thematic analysis. We found that some parents were skeptical about receiving cash incentives. However, once treatment-related costs were identified, some became more interested in reimbursement for out of pocket expenditures. Most parents felt up to $100/month would be adequate and that incentives should be tied to changing behaviors, not BMI. Some interviewees expressed preferences for non-cash incentives (e.g. a gift card) over cash incentives. Parents were willing to share incentives with adolescents, up to $50/month, but there was concern about incentives affecting a child's intrinsic motivation for behavior change. All parents acknowledged that moderate incentives alone couldn't overcome the realities of structural and familial barriers to engaging in weight management programs. In summary, we identified aspects of an incentive program to promote engagement in FBT that would be desirable and feasible to implement. Future quantitative work can reveal the value and structure of incentives that are effective for improving obesogenic health behaviors and outcomes., Highlights • We qualitatively assessed desired financial incentives for child obesity treatment. • Some parents were reluctant to accept incentives for family-based obesity treatment • Parents worried incentives could undermine intrinsic motivation for behavior change. • Parents of young children preferred non-cash incentives to cash incentives. • Parents preferred incentives be contingent on health behaviors, not health outcomes.

This research finds that when a single gain has strong associations with multiple costs, consumers often mentally deduct that gain from perceived costs multiple times. For example, with some price promotions (e.g., spend $200 now and receive a $50 gift card to spend in the future), consumers mentally deduct the value of the price promotion from the cost of the first purchase when they receive the promotion, as well as from the cost of the second purchase when they use the promotion. Multiple mental deductions based on a single gain result in consumers' perceptions that their costs are lower than they actually are, which can trigger higher expenditures. This mental accounting phenomenon, referred to as “double mental discounting,” is driven by the extent to which gains feel associated, or coupled, with multiple purchases. This article also documents methods to decouple promotional gains from purchases, thus mitigating double mental discounting.

ObjectiveThe objective of the present study was to test the effectiveness of financial incentives and traffic-light labels to reduce purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages in a community supermarket.DesignIn this randomized controlled trial, after a 2-month baseline period (February–March 2014), in-store traffic-light labels were posted to indicate healthy (green), less healthy (yellow) or unhealthy (red) beverages. During the subsequent five months (April–August 2014), participants in the intervention arm were eligible to earn a $US 25 in-store gift card each month they refrained from purchasing red-labelled beverages.SettingUrban supermarket in Chelsea, MA, USA, a low-income Latino community.SubjectsParticipants were customers of this supermarket who had at least one child living at home. A total of 148 customers (n 77 in the intervention group and n 71 in the control group) were included in the final analyses.ResultsOutcomes were monthly in-store purchases tracked using a store loyalty card and self-reported consumption of red-labelled beverages. Compared with control participants, the proportion of intervention participants who purchased any red-labelled beverages decreased by 9 % more per month (P=0·002). More intervention than control participants reduced their consumption of red-labelled beverages (−23 % v. −2 % for consuming ≥1 red beverage/week, P=0·01).ConclusionsOverall, financial incentives paired with in-store traffic-light labels modestly reduced purchase and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by customers of a community supermarket.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the interesting but largely unexamined effects of pride-tagged money and surprise-tagged money on consumers’ spending and product-choosing behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The present research utilizes experimental design and survey methods to collect data and the ANOVA and bootstrap analysis methods to verify the assumed hypotheses. Findings Study 1 shows that people with pride-tagged (vs surprise-tagged) money are more likely to spend the money for themselves (vs others) and the personal achievement-expression motive plays a mediating role between the pride-tagged money and self-spending behavior. Study 2 replicates the findings of Study 1 and suggests that people with pride-tagged money are less likely to spend the money for others (e.g. donating). Study 3 shows that people with pride-tagged (surprise-tagged) money are more likely to purchase a self-relevant (other-relevant) product than those with surprise-tagged (pride-tagged) money. Practical implications The current research has classified products into self-relevant products (e.g. fitness card, supermarket gift card and mobile game equipment) and other-relevant products (e.g. restaurant set meal, pizza, movie ticket and hot pot) on the basis of perceived self-relevance on the products. Therefore, marketers could frame certain conditions that elicit self-relevant versus other-relevant choices and manipulate self-relevant versus other-relevant primes to shift preferences in favor of certain options. For example, around graduation time, graduates often feel proud of their accomplishments. In this case, marketers could take advantage of that feeling with a message like “treat yourself”, which could prompt them to spend more money for themselves. In addition, the marketers selling other-relevant products (e.g. pizza and hot pot) might develop and promote advertisements that deliver information about “sharing with your friends”. For example, in 2016, Pizza Hut began to use its new slogan of “love to share” to convey the idea of “double happiness as a result of sharing”. Originality/value From a theoretical standpoint, first, this research contributes to the emotional accounting research by advancing the notion that money associated with different positive feelings could influence consumers’ spending behaviors in different ways. Second, the research distinguishes self-relevant products from other-relevant products. Third, it shows that people with pride-tagged money and those with surprise-tagged money have different preferences for products. Self-relevant products, such as fitness card, supermarket gift card and mobile game equipment, that represent a certain degree of independence are more used and/or consumed by consumers with pride-tagged money, whereas other-relevant products, such as restaurant set meal, pizza, movie ticket and hot pot, that involve the perceptions of interdependence are more bought by consumers with surprise-tagged money to share with others.

The use of managed lanes to control and maximize freeway throughput is increasing. One way of encouraging more managed lane use is through the implementation of incentives. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a managed lane is being added to the I-30 (Tom Landry freeway) and incentives to maximize the use of this lane were planned. Since the managed lanes were not yet open and the incentives were hypothetical, a stated preference survey was used to gauge the potential impact of the incentives on traveler behavior. The stated preference questions were designed using Db-efficient and random adaptive designs. The incentives were chosen by looking at other programs around the country and through discussion with transportation experts. Once ready, the survey was administered online to travelers in the area and a total of 898 usable responses were gathered. From the responses, a mixed-logit model was developed to describe and predict traveler behavior. From the model, elasticities were calculated to predict the impact of the incentives on mode choice. The model found that incentives with discounts and free trips (a transit fare discount, express bus service to downtown, a free trip for every X number of paid trips, and a discount offered to select businesses) were more effective at encouraging managed lane use. The other incentives (gift card worth $5 for every X number of trips and $5 in credit for every X number of trips taken by transit) had less of an impact.

Gift cards is frequently used to replace traditional gift cash and gift products, especially when gift givers do not know gift receivers' performances. Basing on this phenomenon, we analyze the supplier's and the retailer's strategies with selling gift cards. First, we develop a Stackelberg model without selling gift cards. Next, we develop two models with selling gift cards when unredeemed gift cards balances become the retailer's property and the state's property, respectively. We present the optimal solutions and exam the impacts of parameters on the optimal decisions and the supply chain performance. When the retailer sells gift cards, the optimal order quantity is smaller than that without selling gift cards. The optimal wholesale price with selling gift cards is related to the treatment of unredeemed gift card balances. When unredeemed gift cards balances become the retailer's property, the wholesale price is lower than that without selling gift cards. However, when unredeemed gift cards balances become the state's property, the wholesale price is lower than that without selling gift cards in some conditions. And with selling gift cards, the optimal expected profits of retailer and supply chain are better off, but the optimal expected profit of supplier is worse off.

In this paper, we investigate gift card's influence on retailers’ ordering decisions and analyse the benefits of issuing product-specific gift cards. We propose an optimal ordering model for retailers’ decision problems with gift cards being issued. We also solve the problem with the analytical forms of optimal order quantities and expected profits. By comparing the results with the classical newsvendor problem, we classify the benefits of issuing gift cards into three categories: (1) the demand stimulating; (2) the pre-payment, and (3) the non-redemption. We step further to explore a retailer's problem on how to determine the optimal discount for gift cards, which is characterized by a joint optimal policy on the ordering quantity and the discount. We derive the optimal condition on this joint policy. Numerical examples are conducted to illustrate the model results and analyse the influences of parameters. A sample average approximation method is also been introduced to solve the optimization model.

This study evaluated approaches for recruiting patients at a cancer center to an electronic survey about their experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight groups (n = 2,750 patients total) were contacted via email to complete a 15-minute survey. Groups consisted of: 1) a detailed email only, 2) a brief email only, 3) a mailed letter and brief email, 4) a mailed letter, small prize in the envelope, and brief email, 5) a mailed postcard and brief email, 6) a brief email and $10 gift card, 7) a mailed letter, brief email and $10 gift card, and 8) a mailed postcard, brief email, and $10 gift card. Patients were considered eligible if they had a valid email address, were seen at the cancer center since January 1, 2015, had English as a preferred language, a last known vital status of alive, an address inside the cancer center's catchment area, and were between 40 and 89 years old. Patients were over sampled for Hispanic ethnicity and African American race, then randomly sampled. Response rates were evaluated overall, by race/ethnicity, gender, time since visit to the cancer center and age. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the odds of completing the survey. 259 patients (9.4%) completed the survey across all pilot groups. Response rates varied by pilot group, ranging from 2.6% response for a detailed email only, to 18.4% response for a brief email, postcard and gift card. The latter group was also among the highest for response rates among Hispanics (25.6%) and Non-Hispanic/Non-White patients (15.9%). In a multivariate model adjusting for race, ethnicity, age, and gender, we found those who received a gift card had 1.86 times (95% CI: 1.40–2.48) higher odds of completing the survey than those who did not. Additionally, those who received a postcard or letter compared to those who only received an email had 1.46 times (95% CI: 1.05–2.04) higher odds of completing the survey. In our study of cancer patients seen at a major cancer center, prompting potential study participants with a letter or postcard before an email improved response rates. Further including a gift card increased response rates, particularly for underrepresented minorities. Future analyses include evaluating response rates by insurance status and cancer type.

Many retailers have not measured the magnitude of cannibalization or its impact on revenue and profit when existing customers use a gift card for purchases they would have made without it, particularly when the card was purchased through a 3rd party at a discount up to 15%. We conducted a survey among gift card redeemers of a national casual dining restaurant chain to determine how the gift card affected their purchase behavior. We used this information, combined with operating margin, to model the impact of three different gift card discount scenarios on firm revenue and profit. Although the revenue effect was positive under all scenarios, the same was not true for profit. The profit was much lower than anticipated, even in the best case scenario, and was negative in the worst case scenario.

Employment in those with disability is an important rehabilitation goal, along with achieving some measure of functional independence and is at the same time one of the most difficult goals to achieve. The number of people with disabilities participating in adaptive sports has been increasing steadily over the years. A few studies have looked at the relationship between physical fitness and employment status in those with disability, but there have been no studies that focused on the results of organized adaptive sports events affecting employment outcome.To determine whether participation in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG) has a positive impact on employment in those with disability.Prospective, cross-sectional survey.2015 NVWG in Dallas, Texas (nonclinic setting).A total of 338 survey participants; 36 surveys were excluded due to incompletion.Veterans who participated at the 2015 NVWG were given the opportunity to complete a 2-page survey. Survey participants received $5.00 gift card as compensation.Percentage of those who perceived NVWG made a difference in attaining employment, risk ratio analyses.A total of 50% of the participants stated that the NVWG made a difference in attaining employment. Those currently working were 1.5 times more likely to say that the NVWG had a positive effect on employment than those not currently working (P .01). Those who felt that the NVWG had a positive effect on employment attended 3-4 more wheelchair games on average than those reporting that the NVWG did not have an impact on employment (P.001). Positive responses were obtained from the Likert scale distribution.Our study suggests that participating in the NVWG provides psychosocial support to the veterans and may have a positive influence in employment outcomes.III.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board recently updated rules regarding revenue recognition, which includes the accounting for gift card and customer loyalty point “breakage.” Breakage is the number of gift cards sold or customer loyalty points that will remain unredeemed indefinitely. Until the recent change, some companies kept the liabilities on their records indefinitely, while other companies reduced the liabilities over time, which created inconsistencies between companies. This article provides an example and discusses the changes related to accounting for gift cards and customer loyalty programs. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Surveys are the most commonly utilized tool for collecting data from college students. In recent years, the increasing number of surveys administered to students has resulted in low response rates due to survey fatigue. The use of incentives, especially those of a lottery-based nature, has become a popular strategy for improving response rates. At present, however, there is little research on the effectiveness of incentives for surveys involving students. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate what types of incentives are most likely to be effective for boosting response rates among students in medical and health professions programs, and what odds of winning a prize are likely to be most effective given lottery-based scenarios. Results indicate two major findings. First, lottery-based incentives, including those that offer a prize of considerable value (e.g., $250 cash and iPad) were reported to be much less attractive to students than guaranteed prizes, including those of relatively little value (e.g., $5 gift card). Second, students reported they were highly motivated to participate if the topic was of interest, they knew their feedback would make a difference, be taken seriously, be sincerely appreciated by the researcher(s), and if the topic appealed to their sense of professional responsibility/civic duty.

The use of incentives to promote offender compliance is becoming increasingly common in community supervision. Although evidence suggests that incentives can improve offender outcomes, little is known about how they can best be implemented to achieve desired results. Research in other fields demonstrates that incentive quality plays an important role in promoting behavioral change. Unfortunately, little is known about the perceived value of incentives utilized in probation and parole settings. The current study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the results of a survey administered to 200 adult probationers. Results indicated that earned compliance credits were rated most favorably, followed by a $50 fee waiver, reduced reporting requirements, and a $50 gift card. Recognition-based incentives received the weakest ratings. Multivariate analyses showed that individual level, as compared to offense- and supervision-level variables, had more consistent influences on perceptions of incen...

Three barriers investigators often encounter when conducting longitudinal work with homeless or other marginalized populations are difficulty tracking participants, high rates of no-shows for follow-up interviews, and high rates of loss to follow-up. Recent research has shown that homeless populations have substantial access to information technologies, including mobile devices and computers. These technologies have the potential both to make longitudinal data collection with homeless populations easier and to minimize some of these methodological challenges. This pilot study's purpose was to test whether individuals who were homeless and sleeping on the streets-the "street homeless"-would answer questions remotely through a web-based data collection system at regular "follow-up" intervals. We attempted to simulate longitudinal data collection in a condensed time period. Participants (N = 21) completed an in-person baseline interview. Each participant was given a remotely reloadable gift card. Subsequently, weekly for 8 weeks, participants were sent an email with a link to a SurveyMonkey questionnaire. Participants were given 48 h to complete each questionnaire. Data were collected about life on the streets, service use, community inclusion, substance use, and high-risk sexual behaviors. Ten dollars was remotely loaded onto each participant's gift card when they completed the questionnaire within the completion window. A substantial number of participants (67% of the total sample and 86% of the adjusted sample) completed at least seven out of the eight follow-up questionnaires. Most questionnaires were completed at public libraries, but several were completed at other types of locations (social service agencies, places of employment, relative/friend/acquaintance's domiciles, or via mobile phone). Although some of the questions were quite sensitive, very few participants skipped any questions. The only variables associated with questionnaire completion were frequency of computer use and education-both positive associations. This pilot study suggests that collecting longitudinal data online may be feasible with a subpopulation of persons experiencing homelessness. We suspect that participant follow-up rates using web-based data collection methods have the potential to exceed follow-up rates using traditional in-person interviews. If this population of persons experiencing street homelessness can be successful with this method of data collection, perhaps other disenfranchised, difficult-to-track, or difficult-to-reach populations could be followed using web-based data collection methods. Local governments are striving to decrease the "digital divide," providing free or greatly discounted wi-fi connectivity as well as mobile computer lab access to low-income geographic areas. These actions, in combination with increased smart phone ownership, may permit vulnerable populations to connect and communicate with investigators.

Background Gang violence is a problem across the United States, with as many as 1 million youth identified as gang members and over 400,000 children initiated into gangs each year. The negative impact of gang membership on a child's health and well-being has been well documented, though a national survey revealed that most pediatricians never or rarely screen for youth violence. Methods We utilized an 18-item survey that consisted of 3 components: Knowledge, Current Practice, and Beliefs About Pediatrician's Role. This was sent electronically to pediatric residents, internal medicine/pediatric residents and adolescent medicine fellows at 17 residency programs in 7 of the largest US cities. Each participant received compensation for completion of the survey with a small-value electronic gift card. Results Of the 206 responses received, 50% of participants reported currently completing their residency training in Chicago, while 27% were in New York and 21% in Los Angeles. While 95% (n = 196) reported believing that gang violence is a problem in the city they are completing residency, 85% (n = 176) stated they do not routinely screen patients and families for the possibility of gang participation. Additionally, 62% (n = 128) of responders stated that they are “a little uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” assessing risks for gang violence among children and families, while 58% (n = 119) reported being “a little uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” discussing gang violence with families. Conclusion Our data demonstrates that a majority of residents surveyed are not routinely screening for risk factors of gang initiation or gang violence, and many do not feel comfortable having these discussions with patients or families. This identifies an important educational gap and provides an opportunity to develop a specific, targeted curriculum for pediatric trainees regarding screening for gang violence.

The authors investigate the joint effects of two environmental variables, performance-based pay (PBP) and performance monitoring (PM), on behavioral dishonesty in a setting where the controls subsequently are absent. In a laboratory study using 88 participants in a 2×2 experimental design, simulating a work environment, the authors manipulate the presence of PBP and PM. Once the participants are accustomed to their assigned work environment and have completed contractual tasks unrelated to the dishonesty experiment, the authors allow them to privately roll dice to determine the size of a bonus gift card. Dishonesty levels are inferred from differences between treatment groups in the prizes claimed. The authors find an interaction effect, where inferred dishonesty in the performance-based-pay group is higher than the fixed-pay group when there is no PM, but lower when there is PM. Although theory and existing literature did not lead us to hypothesize these exact results, they offer important insights into a complex relationship. By jointly examining the effects of worker contracts and workplace monitoring on dishonesty, this research extends the understanding of the potential consequences of formal controls. As the workplace grows more complex, employers increasingly rely on information provided by frontline employees and managers. Thus, unintended effects of managerial controls on honesty are an important topic in the business literature.

Positive Encounter - Don”t Delay Connect Today Background: Too often people suffer the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis for too long before they visit a doctor. The positive encounter between physician and patient can lead to a good relationship, follow-up care and positive health outcomes. We conducted a survey about the need for a treatment plan and found that less than 30% of patients know their treatment plan and patients who do know their plan are better committed and more satisfied with their physicians. 72% of survey respondents who know their treatment plan are happy with their treatment as whole. Of the remainder, only 33% are satisfied. Objectives: The aim of this campaign is to illustrate and inform people of the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and encourage them to visit a doctor, enabling the doctor to assist the patient. To give advice to patients on how to prepare for a doctor’s appointment. The campaign also includes a section directed at rheumatologists and rheumatology nurses, that advises on the importance of the encounter and the creation of the treatment plan. To increase awareness about our association, and to recruit new members Methods: Video for patients and the wider public. Video for rheumatologists and rheumatism professionals. Mailing of brochures on the importance of the treatment plan to all Finnish rheumatologists and arthritis treatment units. We also thanked doctors and attached a fruit gift card. We sent flyers and posters to our member associations. Members have handed out materials directed at patients locally. They have distributed them to libraries, municipalities, sports centres… and given away fliers at the events. Results: Patients have reported being better prepared for the visits and having written down important questions in advance. We achieved attention value amongst professionals and were invited to design a national treatment path with rheumatism professionals for children with JIA. All the main hospitals are involved and will start to use it. Free TV air time was offered for the patient video on the national main TV channel. The Finnish Society for Rheumatology offered us the possibility of promoting our campaign at the Scandinavian Congress of Rheumatology. Conclusion: The campaign was successful. References: [1] www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2_z8cxDvaA [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkDf7C-VPoY [3] https://www.reumaliitto.fi/fi/reumaliitto/uutiset/reumaliiton-tilaisuus-eduskunnassa-viestit-vaaleihin-2019 [4] https://www.reumaliitto.fi/fi/hoidonlaatu Disclosure of Interests: None declared

Objective Web-based platforms have revolutionized the ability for researchers to perform global survey research. Methods to incentivize participation have been singularly focused on European and North American participants with varied results. With an ever increasing proportion of biomedical research being performed in non-western countries, assessment of novel methods to improve global survey response is timely and necessary. To that end, we created a three-arm nested randomized control trial (RCT) within a prospective cohort study to assess the impact of incentives on survey responsiveness in a global audience of biomedical researchers. Results Email invitations were sent to authors and editors involved in online publishing totaling 2426 participants from 111 countries. Overall we observed a 13.0% response rate: 13.3% for the control group, 14.4% for a group entered to win a gift card, and 11.1% for a group whose participation lead to donation to charity (p = 0.17). Year of publication nor country impacted response rate. Within subgroups, editors were significantly less likely to respond to the survey as compared to authors (6.5% vs. 18.9%; p-value

Gift cards or tender (Loyalty or Store-value Card) have become big entities in retail business and are widely used and accepted forms of tender across the retail industry. With more and more revenue being generated through stored value cards, it is very important to protect revenue, profitability, reputation and consumer trust.

This case represents an amalgam of commonly reported experiences people have when interacting with others from different social class backgrounds and positions of power. The A case takes the perspective of Dan Marlow, who grew up with access to financial and cultural resources and has built his own construction company. He has just fired Robby Gomez, an otherwise great worker, for chronic lateness, and he wonders why he is having trouble motivating and keeping employees. The B case takes the viewpoint of Gomez, who works hard but has trouble getting to work on time because of practical difficulties like car trouble and obligations to family and others in his community. By comparing the perspectives and experiences of these two protagonists, students learn to see how our own experiences and cultural knowledge can inform our decisions and the employee programs that we design. Because we are not aware of cultural norms that we have not personally experienced, we need to include a diversity of viewpoints in the decision-making and design processes in order to design effective systems and have effective interactions across differences. Excerpt UVA-OB-1282 Rev. Aug. 5, 2020 Marlow Construction (A): Dan Marlow, Founder and President Dan Marlow was the founder and president of Marlow Construction, a midsized construction company in New England. He had started his company right out of college, while working part-time for his father's law office. He had borrowed some money from his family and had taken a small bank loan to buy a truck and some equipment, and soon began doing small projects. His first clients were friends and family who lived in nice neighborhoods, other lawyers his father knew, and some of his more well-to-do family friends. As his business grew, Marlow hired more people and took on bigger projects. Now, his company employed about 35 full-time workers. However, recurring personnel issues were driving him crazy, and at the moment, he was feeling bad about a recent conversation. Earlier that day, Marlow had fired Robby Gomez, an employee who had worked for Marlow Construction for several months. Marlow liked Gomez. From what he could tell, Gomez was a very capable worker and spent a lot of time helping other people on his work crew. Marlow thought Gomez had a lot of potential, if he buckled down and committed himself to his work. He could probably even learn to run his own crew of workers. Instead, Gomez had a history of showing up late, if at all, and demonstrated very little desire to go above and beyond for clients. Marlow thought about his relationship with Gomez over the past couple of months. He had made several attempts to connect, explaining that it was important to the company, to Gomez's future employment, and to the clients of Marlow Construction that workers showed up on time and did excellent work. But it seemed that no matter how many times Marlow brought it up, Gomez continued to have problems showing up and often seemed distracted. Marlow had tried to motivate Gomez once by recognizing some good work he had done: he'd even given him a gift card to a nice restaurant in town as a way of saying thanks. The issues with Gomez bothered Marlow because the situation wasn't unique. A number of employees had problems with timeliness, effort, and turnover. Sometimes an employee would just disappear one day and never come back! . . .

A gift card promotion provides customers an incentive to spend more than an expenditure level on regularly priced (as opposed to discounted) products, by rewarding customers with a gift card to be redeemed against a future purchase. This type of promotion is widely used by luxury fashion, department, and consumer electronic stores. In this paper, we empirically test and quantify the causal effects of gift card promotion on the retailers' revenue and the mechanisms through which it impacts customers' purchase behavior. To do so, we collaborate with a major U.S.-based fashion retailer that regularly runs gift card promotions on its online channel by targeting its customers through promotion emails. We utilize our partner retailer's targeting policy to run a regression discontinuity design analysis. We find that gift card promotion increases retailer's revenue by up to 113%. The magnitude of this effect, however, reduces with the customers' recency of purchase from the retailer's website and becomes insignificant for customers who made their last online purchase more than 13 months ago. We also find that frequent purchasers, who are likely to have lower cost of redeeming a gift card, are more likely to participate in the promotion. Using our estimations, we attribute $554K to $1.14M (i.e., 18.50% to 38.14%) of the retailer's $2.99M total online channel revenue during promotion days to gift card promotion, on average. We find that the gift card promotion email increases sales even among customers who do not participate in the promotion. Specifically, advertising the gift card promotion through an email increases customers' preference for the retailer but has no significant informative or reminder effects. We attribute 70 to 89% of the promotion's total impact to this advertisement effect. We also run a propensity score matching analysis and find that customers who redeem their earned gift cards increase their expenditures (beyond the face value of the gift card) by 23.3%, on average. Therefore, we show that redemption of gift cards induces additional expenditure and, hence, can be profitable for the retailer offsetting any promotional costs incurred.

Introduction Last year we planned and created our own burn camp. We saw a need not being served and jumped in a created a camp experience that was archived in a documentary and received stellar reviews by all who attended. The kids’ camp expectations was exceeded and everyone was looking forward to 2020. We planned for a great 2020 camp experience and then COVID struck. We debated about the safety to proceed with residential camp as we knew it. Other camps cancelled but our inner need to serve wouldn’t let us do this. Methods Our planning committee quickly shifted and began planning for how we can bring that experience to a virtual platform. We engaged our Facebook group and called every kid on our list to inform the parents of the change. We then created a daily schedule and purchased the items needed for all activities. We then sent or delivered these with a gift card to kids that couldn’t make the pickups. Pickups were scheduled in the cities where most of our kids reside. We conducted daily yoga and meditation, cooking classes, painting and campfire stories. We mixed daily online sessions with 3 tailgating meet ups. We invited guest lectures and left the virtual space open for the kids to hang out. Results At the final tailgate/virtual pizza party, we had an awards ceremony and received testimonials from kids and parents about how for the first-time siblings were able to participate. We delivered to 15 kids and had 20 attend the tailgate pickups. On average, we had 16 kids attend daily. Conclusions Parents could see how their child benefitted from this community and the intent of camp. This event revealed exactly where our patients reside from a socioeconomic standpoint. Deliveries to some homes left our volunteers in tears. This helped explain the discrepancy between interest expressed and the numbers that showed daily for events. It also made us recognize that camp means even more as it is an escape from their realities.

The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) is a non-profit member association which frequently engages in best practices research for the profession of investor relations officers. In conducting its best practices online survey research with this population, previous research has shown that the use of conditional lottery incentives assists in increasing otherwise declining survey participation response rates. Previous research has suggested that some populations (students, professionals, etc.) behave differently than others towards conditional lottery incentives. Members of the sample were randomly assigned to one of two groups for the online survey which determined whether they were offered one chance to win one of five $20 gift cards, or one chance to win one of one $100 gift card for their participation. The total dollar amount distributed to respondents for each group totaled to $100, for a combined total distributed of $200. Results showed that both click-rate (or click-through rate) of the survey link and survey completion rate were not significantly affected by the increased odds of winning one of five smaller lottery incentives as opposed to one of one larger incentive.

Charities seeking to increase donations are now offering charity gift cards (CGCs), which allow recipients to select how their gift card is allocated across various charitable projects. Supporting a model derived from self-determination theory, an experiment shows that U.S. consumers are more satisfied and more likely to donate to the card-sponsoring charity after using a CGC than after learning a donation has been made in their name, because CGCs enhance consumers’ felt autonomy, competence, and relationship with the charity and its projects, which predict a more charitable self-concept and satisfaction with the gift. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Objectives: Test the effect of deviant peer modeling on theft as conditioned by verbal support for theft and number of deviant models. Methods: Two related randomized experiments in which participants were given a chance to steal a gift card (ostensibly worth CAN$15) from the table in front of them. Each experiment had a control group, a verbal prompting group in which confederate(s) endorsed stealing, a behavioral modeling group in which confederate(s) committed theft, and a verbal prompting plus behavioral modeling group in which confederate(s) did both. The first experiment used one confederate; the second experiment used two. The pooled sample consisted of 335 undergraduate students. Results: Participants in the verbal prompting plus behavioral modeling group were most likely to steal followed by the behavioral modeling group. Interestingly, behavioral modeling was only influential when two confederates were present. There were no thefts in either the control or verbal prompting groups regardless of the number of confederates. Conclusions: Behavioral modeling appears to be the key mechanism, though verbal support can strengthen the effect of behavioral modeling.

Using a 2 (beverage: beer versus water) × 2 (brand familiarity: familiar versus unfamiliar) × 3 (message repetition) mixed factorial experiment, this study investigated the effects of exposure to Facebook alcohol advertisements on intentions to consume alcohol and alcohol-related behaviors (gift card choice: bar versus coffee shop). Participants (N = 121) were exposed to Facebook ads for familiar or unfamiliar beer or water brands. Participants were more likely to select a bar than a coffee shop gift card upon exposure to beer versus water ads, which was moderated by brand familiarity and risky alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT]). In addition, participants’ expression of intentions to consume alcohol was conditional to AUDIT and brand familiarity. Findings are discussed within the framework of the mere exposure and priming effects. The policy implications of social media advertising of alcohol are discussed.

Gift cards are replacing cash and holiday products as gifts for many consumers. We analyze the effect of gift card sales on a retailer’s optimal stocking level of holiday products and his expected profit within the newsvendor model framework. We derive the sufficient condition for the optimal stocking level of holiday products. We find that increased gift card sales decrease the retailer’s optimal stocking level. The effect of gift card sales on the expected profits depends on treatment of unredeemed gift card balances by the state and the type of non-holiday products gift card redeemers buy with gift cards. When these balances remain with the retailer, even small non-redemptions of gift cards will cause gift card sales to increase most retailers’ expected profit. When balances are treated as abandoned property which must be turned to the state after a specified period of time, gift cards sales may increase or decrease the retailer’s expected profit. If gift card redeemers buy products with gift cards they would not have bought from the retailer in cash, then the optimal expected profit is likely to increase. Gift card profitability increases with demand variability and the post-holiday markdown required to sell holiday products to bargain hunters. The performance of gift cards also depends on consumers’ reservation prices for non-holiday products. If unredeemed gift card balances are collected by the state, then profitability of gift cards increases with increased consumer reservation prices for non-holiday products.

Background Many families from low-income communities lack access to evidence-based nutrition education opportunities. Thus, we developed a virtual reality avatar program to provide parents and children with tailored nutrition education on healthy snacking. Objective To assess the effectiveness, usability, and applicability of an innovative virtual reality avatar software to improve healthy snacking behaviors in children. Study Design, Setting, Participants Qualitative methods were used for product development user testing. The research focused on children (ages 5-10) from low-income communities in North Carolina. First, children from a youth food summit provided anonymous written feedback on their reactions to the program. Second, this initial feedback was used to modify the program, which was then given to parent-child dyads (n = 15) who were observed using the program and then completed an in-depth semi-structured interview about their experiences. Eligibility for the second phase included being English speaking, low-income (federal benefit eligible), and having a child between ages 5-10. All participants for the observations/interviews were African American and received a gift card for their participation. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Interest in using the program, usability, and overall perceptions were determined with a Thematic analysis approach in Atlas Ti. Results The anonymous written feedback from children was mostly positive. Most children found the program to be “cool,” “fun,” and “helpful.” Children suggested changing the voice of the avatar, adding more pictures and interaction (eg, gamifying), and allowing personalization of the avatar. In the interviews, children stated they were excited about interacting with the avatar and parents liked that it modeled healthy behaviors. The program helped to foster dialogue between children and parents, and the avatar's probes helped parents learn new information about their children's preferences/behaviors. Conclusion The virtual reality avatar program appears to be a promising nutrition education approach for children. Evaluation of impact on dietary behaviors is needed. Funding Health Resources and Services Administration.

New trade-in services such as online trade-in, trade-in on e-commerce platforms and omni-channel trade-in, are emerging due to the development of e-commerce. To offer these new trade-in services, firms need to determine the optimal product price and rebate and decide whether to pay the rebate with a gift card (G) or cash (C). To address these challenges for firms, our paper considers a firm selling a new product to new consumers and offering a trade-in service to replacement consumers. In addition, we develop theoretical models to examine the optimal decisions in the cases of G and C and explore the optimal payment for the rebate. We reveal that G payment is a better choice for the firm only if the used product residual value is relatively low and the market size ratio between replacement and new consumers is relatively low; otherwise, the firm should choose C payment. Interestingly, replacement consumers’ preferred trade-in rebate payment (i.e., C payment) leads a lower trade-in demand than G payment and C payment may be harmful. In the extension, we consider a firm with online and offline sales channels and different types of replacement consumers who own different used products, and find that our main results regarding the optimal rebate payment still hold. Moreover, we find that in the context of a used product with a relatively medium residual value, firms with online and offline sales channels are more likely to choose G than firms with one sales channel; otherwise, firms are more likely to choose C.

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Introduction: Previous studies found that offering free nicotine patches significantly increases calls to quitlines, although most used pre–post designs and did not directly compare the effects of patches and other incentives. The current study with California Medicaid members used a 2 × 2 design to directly assess the effects of offering free patches and incentives on calls to a quitline. The hypotheses were that offering either would make members more likely to call, and that offering both would increase demand even further. Methods: Flyers were inserted into a mailing sent to 4,268,696 Medicaid households, with one of four offers: (1) free counseling; (2) counseling plus patches; (3) counseling plus a $20 gift card; and (4) counseling plus patches and gift card. Ninety percent received the first offer and 10% received one of the other three offers, in equal proportions. The mailers shipped late 2013 to early 2014. Data were collected 2013–2015 and analyzed 2018. Results: Response rates were 0.029% for counseling, 0.115% for counseling plus patches, 0.122% for counseling plus gift card, and 0.200% for counseling, patches, and gift card. Both patches and gift cards had statistically significant effects (both p

Basic and clinical addiction research use demand measures and analysis extensively to characterize drug use motivations. Hence, obtaining an accurate and brief measurement of demand that can be easily utilized in different settings is highly valued. In the current study, 2 versions of a breakpoint measure, designed to capture cigarette demand, were investigated in 119 smokers who were recruited from an online crowdsourcing platform. The first version determines the maximum price a smoker is willing to pay for one cigarette received right now when paid out of pocket, and the second determines the maximum price when paid using a hypothetical $100 gift card received for free. The breakpoint measures were administered along with the Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT), Fagerstrom Test for Cigarette Dependence (FTCD), and The Questionnaire of Smoking Urges (QSU-brief). Both single-item breakpoint versions were significantly correlated with CPT-derived demand measures loaded on the persistence factor (i.e., elasticity of demand, breakpoint, Pmax, and Omax), but not with those loaded on the amplitude factor (i.e., intensity of demand). In addition, both single-item measures were associated with metrics of tobacco dependence (e.g., FTCD, QSU) with effect sizes that are similar to the ones found between CPT-derived breakpoint and those same metrics. These findings suggest that the single-item breakpoint measure is a viable method for measuring demand that may provide a useful and efficient tool to capture crucial and distinct aspects of smoking. In addition, the breakpoint measures may help increase the utility of behavioral demand measures in novel research and clinical settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Sales promotion has become a popular tool for retailers to deal with the intense competition in the product market, and the gift card program is a common one. Moreover, with the rapid development of e-commerce and mobile Internet, the external market of gift cards is gradually forming. This paper mainly uses consumer's valuation of products and its distribution function to describe consumer's decision-making behavior, on this basis, we construct the retailers' profit optimization model. Then we analyze the conditions for retailers to conduct gift card program and the optimal promotion strategy. After this, we further analyze the effects of different factors on the optimal strategy.

Gift cards are an increasingly popular payment platform. Much like credit cards, gift cards rely on a magnetic stripe to encode account information. Unlike credit cards, however, the EMV standard is entirely infeasible for gift cards due to compatibility and cost. As such, much of the fraud that has plagued credit cards has started to move towards gift cards, resulting in billions of dollars of loss annually. In this paper, we present a system for detecting counterfeit magnetic stripe gift cards that does not require the original card to be measured at the time of manufacture. Our system relies on a phenomenon known as jitter, which is present on all ISO/IEC-standard magnetic stripe cards. Variances in bit length are induced by the card encoding hardware and are difficult and expensive to reduce. We verify this hypothesis with a high-resolution magneto-optical microscope, then build our detector using inexpensive, commodity card readers. We then partnered with Walmart to evaluate their gift cards and distinguished legitimate gift cards from our clones with up to 99.3% accuracy. Our results show that measurement and detection of jitter increases the difficulty for adversaries to produce undetectable counterfeits, thereby creating significant opportunity to reduce gift card fraud.

Prior research examines practitioner, investor, and executive perceptions of corporate tax planning. However, little is known about how the typical U.S. consumer views corporate tax planning. We examine consumers’ perceptions of corporate tax planning using both survey and experimental methods. First, we survey U.S. consumers and find that while most express negative preferences for tax planning, they rank it at the bottom of purchase decision factors. Few consumers recall ever seeing a negative media article about taxes. Thus, while consumers state a preference against corporate tax planning, that preference is not particularly strong. However, for the minority of consumers who have read negative articles about a firm’s tax planning, a significant portion claim to have changed their purchasing behavior accordingly. Second, we use an experiment to investigate the consumer effects of tax planning, randomly treating consumers with exposure to news about tax planning and imposing real economic consequences on the participants. We find that consumers exposed to negative tax information about a firm are significantly less likely to prefer receiving a gift card from that firm, suggesting that there is an effect of tax planning on consumer preferences even in the presence of a real economic consequence.

Objective Assess demographic differences for a food website between online newsletter subscribers and general organic website visitors. “Organic” traffic arrives at a website through search engines vs. referring channels. Use of Theory or Research In-person programing is limited and the Internet has become a significant source for disseminating information, making it important to evaluate potential differences in users. Ninety-eight percent of ages 18-65+ use the Internet (Pew Research Center, 2018). Target Audience Adult food newsletter subscribers and organic website visitors interested in consumer food-related issues. Program Description The University's food website connects all Extension food-related areas on one “umbrella” website. Email newsletters are one part of the website. Evaluation Methods To assess online newsletter subscribers, a survey was distributed during 2018. Survey completion incentive was entry into a random gift card drawing. Google Analytics was used to assess 2018 organic website traffic. Results The website had more than 1.6 million users. Google Analytics showed over 80% of visitors found the website through an organic search. The newsletter subscribers survey (21% return rate; n = 992) indicated only 20% of respondents found the website through an organic search; other methods included electronic mailing list announcement (14%), professional conferences (13%), forward from email (13%), other (13%), and co-worker (11%). Though both data sets showed a website visitor age span of 18-65+ years, the highest percent of organic visitors was 25-34-years-old (30%) while 70% of newsletter subscribers fell into the 40-69-year-old range. Most subscribers (94%) were female compared to 65% of general visitors. Similar topics of interest for both groups were: food safety, storage, and cooking. Conclusions Data highlighted how using additional venues to promote website materials, such as newsletters, should be used beyond only placing content online. Newsletters may appeal to a more specific age and gender than organic search traffic. Though general topic interest may be similar, newsletter surveys helped tease out more specific interests. Funding None.

Gift cards have received limited study despite being a key element of many retailers’ strategies. One reason may be that approaching the study of gift cards from a traditional economic perspective, i.e. ignoring social relationships, leaves little justification for the rapid increase in gift card sales. Failing to see the value of gift cards, many commentators go so far as to argue against the purchase of gift cards, suggesting that consumers would better off using other gift types. This misses the important point that givers voluntarily buy cards and receivers enjoy gaining them. Consumers undoubtedly perceive the value in gift cards. We suggest that taking a broader perspective on consumer behavior and considering consumers involved in social systems that encourage gift giving, allows us to see the value gift cards create while allowing us to address the concerns gift cards raise more effectively. In this article, we detail the benefits created for givers, receivers, and merchants by the use of gift car...

HIV infection is concentrated in populations living in poverty. We examined the overlapping and independent effects of multiple poverty indicators on HIV-related health status. Because substance use can create competing survival needs when resources are limited, we also sought to objectively measure expenditures on food relative to alcohol and tobacco products. To achieve these aims, 459 men and 212 women living with HIV infection in Atlanta, GA completed measures of socio-demographic and heath characteristics as well as multiple indicators of poverty including housing stability, transportation, food insecurity, and substance use. Participants were given a $30 grocery gift card for their participation and we collected receipts which were coded for alcohol (beer, wine, liquors) and tobacco purchases. Results showed that participants with unsuppressed HIV replication were significantly more likely to experience multiple indicators of poverty. In addition, one in four participants purchased alcohol or tobacco products with their gift cards, with as much as one-fourth of money spent on these products. A multivariable logistic regression model showed that food insecurity was independently associated with unsuppressed HIV, and purchasing alcohol or tobacco products did not moderate this association. Results confirm previous research to show the primacy of food insecurity in relation to HIV-related health outcomes. Competing survival needs, including addictive substances, should be addressed in programs that aim to alleviate poverty to enhance the health and well-being of people with HIV infection.

The obesity epidemic has negative physical, psychological, and financial consequences. Despite the existence of effective behavioral weight loss interventions, many individuals do not achieve adequate weight loss, and most regain lost weight in the year following intervention. We report the rationale and design for a 2×2 factorial study that involves financial incentives for dietary self-monitoring (yes vs. no) and/or interim weight loss (yes vs. no). Outpatients with obesity participate in a 24-week, group-based weight loss intervention. All participants are asked to record their daily dietary and liquid intake on a smartphone application (app) and to weigh themselves daily at home on a study-provided cellular scale. An innovative information technology (IT) solution collates dietary data from the app and weight from the scale. Using these data, an algorithm classifies participants weekly according to whether they met their group's criteria to receive a cash reward ranging from $0 to $30 for dietary self-monitoring and/or interim weight loss. Notice of the reward is provided via text message, and credit is uploaded to a gift card. This pilot study will provide information on the feasibility of using this novel IT solution to provide variable-ratio financial incentives in real time via its effects on recruitment, intervention adherence, retention, and cost. This study will provide the foundation for a comprehensive, adequately-powered, randomized controlled trial to promote short-term weight loss and long-term weight maintenance. If efficacious, this approach could reduce the prevalence, adverse outcomes, and costs of obesity for millions of Americans. Clinicaltrials.gov registration: NCT02691260.