Smoking CessationNCT04224727
The Impact of Group Commitment Contracts on Smoking Cessation and Weight Loss
A study testing Group Commitment Contract, Individual Monetary Rewards and Individual Commitment Contract in people with Smoking Cessation and Weight Loss, run by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
We will conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of group commitment contracts for smoking cessation and weight loss. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Smoking Cessation, Weight Loss
- What is being tested?
- Group Commitment Contract, Individual Monetary Rewards and Individual Commitment Contract
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 3,600 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 18 Dec 2023to 19 Jun 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Aged 18 years or older
- Has smartphone with capability to reach internet daily and download app
- Able and willing to visit Quest location or take an at-home verification test
- Willing to furnish a payment method for commitment contract stakes
- If completing a smoking cessation contract:
- Daily smoker
Show all 9Show fewer
- If completing a weight loss contract:
- Has access to a functioning scale
- Interest in losing weight at a pace of 2 lb or fewer per week, with a target BMI at or above 18.5
Who cannot join
- Pregnancy
- Any terminal illness
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Northwestern University, Global Poverty Research Lab
Evanston, Illinois, 60208
About this study
We will conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of group commitment contracts for smoking cessation and weight loss.
Read the detailed description
Initial screening will be conducted online via the Qualtrics survey platform. Respondents meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria will immediately be randomized into one of the intervention arms described below, and then take a baseline survey. This baseline survey will also be conducted online via the Qualtrics survey platform. The initial screening, randomization, and baseline survey should take approximately 15 minutes total and can be completed anywhere the participant has an internet connection.
INTERVENTION: Respondents who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria will be randomized into one of the following arms:
- Control Arm (No Intervention)
- Group Contract Arm
- Individual Monetary Rewards Arm
- Individual Commitment Contract Arm
Subjects in Arms #2-4 will be cross-randomized into two subgroups:
- Additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates."
- No additional information treatments.
FOLLOW-UP SURVEY: After the participants finish their contract, they will be emailed a link to the follow-up survey that will be administered online via the Qualtrics survey platform. The survey should take approximately 5 minutes and can be completed anywhere the participant has an internet connection. Participants will be directly prompted to answer whether they have been able to quit smoking or lose their target weight in the past six months. If a participant self-reports a claim of smoking cessation or successful weight loss, they will be asked to furnish at-home verification of their claim.
IN-PERSON VERIFICATION: A randomly selected subset of successful participants will be asked for in-person verification of their claim with a urine test (smoking cessation) or in-person weigh-in (weight loss) at a Quest Diagnostics location of their choice.
- Conditions
- Smoking Cessation, Weight Loss
- Being tested
- Group Commitment Contract, Individual Monetary Rewards, Individual Commitment Contract, Information
- Medical subject headings
- Smoking Cessation, Weight Loss
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Group Commitment ContractBehavioural
A group contract where the primary individual, who will be tracked by the study, can invite peers to join the contract and form their group. To initiate a contract, a user must choose: the stakes, start date, and (for weight loss contracts) target weight, and and, optionally, to allow other members to have the power to invite other people to join the group.
Individual Monetary RewardsBehavioural
Individuals eligible for a $100 monetary reward (incentive) following verified smoking cessation or weight loss.
Individual Commitment ContractBehavioural
Individuals will have the opportunity to create an individual commitment contract to quit smoking. They will have the option to set the stakes, start date, and (for weight loss contracts) target weight.
InformationOther
In the initial survey, participants will receive additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates."
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | Subjects are not offered a group commitment contract, individual commitment contract, or individual monetary rewards. Subjects do not receive additional information treatments. |
| Group Commitment Contract + Information | Experimental | Subjects are offered a group commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments. Receives: Behavioral: Group Commitment Contract; Other: Information |
| Individual Monetary Rewards + Information | Experimental | Subjects are offered individual monetary rewards for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments. Receives: Behavioral: Individual Monetary Rewards; Other: Information |
| Individual Commitment Contract + Information | Experimental | Subjects are offered an individual commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments. Receives: Behavioral: Individual Commitment Contract; Other: Information |
| Group Commitment Contract | Experimental | Subjects are offered a group commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments. Receives: Behavioral: Group Commitment Contract |
| Individual Monetary Rewards | Experimental | Subjects are offered individual monetary rewards for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments. Receives: Behavioral: Individual Monetary Rewards |
| Individual Commitment Contract | Experimental | Subjects are offered an individual commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments. Receives: Behavioral: Individual Commitment Contract |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Smoking Cessation / Weight Loss
Participants will be directly prompted to answer whether they have been able to quit smoking or reach their target weight in the past six months. If a participant self-reports a claim of success, they will be asked to furnish at-home (and, in some cases, in-person) verification.
Measured: 6 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted13 Jan 2020
- Study start18 Dec 2023
- Primary completion19 Jun 2025 (estimated)
- Study completion19 Jun 2025 (estimated)
Why it stopped: This study was suspended due to low take-up in the group commitment contracts arm (\~6%), revealing inadequate statistical power to justify moving forward. There were no safety concerns.
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Smoking CessationStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Respondents who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria will be randomized into one of the following arms: 1. Control Arm (No Intervention) 2. Group Contract Arm 3. Individual Monetary Rewards Arm 4. Individual Commitment Contract Arm To understand the effect that knowledge about the effectiveness of commitment contracts has on uptake, smoking quit rates, and weight loss, we will be cross-randomizing those assigned to Arms #2-4 into further subgroups: Subgroup A. In the initial survey, participants will receive additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates." In other words, we aim to provide information that will encourage present-biased or loss-averse individuals to participate in the programs that offer the greatest chance at success. Subgroup B. Participants will not receive any information about commitment contracts.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 3,600 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Northwestern University
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Dean Karlan, PhD, Principal investigator, Northwestern UniversityAnna Tuchman, PhD, Principal investigator, Northwestern UniversityJonathan Zinman, PhD, Principal investigator, Dartmouth College
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04224727
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 0009
- Status last verified
- Apr 2024
- First submitted
- 8 Jan 2020
- Last updated
- 16 Apr 2024
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 16 Apr 2024. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- The Impact of Group Commitment Contracts on Smoking Cessation and Weight Loss
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04224727
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 0009
- Conditions
- Smoking Cessation, Weight Loss
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- SuspendedReason stopped: This study was suspended due to low take-up in the group commitment contracts arm (\~6%), revealing inadequate statistical power to justify moving forward. There were no safety concerns.
- Enrolment
- 3,600 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Northwestern University
- Study start
- 18 Dec 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 19 Jun 2025 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 19 Jun 2025 (estimated)
- First posted
- 13 Jan 2020 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
We will conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of group commitment contracts for smoking cessation and weight loss.
Detailed description
Initial screening will be conducted online via the Qualtrics survey platform. Respondents meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria will immediately be randomized into one of the intervention arms described below, and then take a baseline survey. This baseline survey will also be conducted online via the Qualtrics survey platform. The initial screening, randomization, and baseline survey should take approximately 15 minutes total and can be completed anywhere the participant has an internet connection.
INTERVENTION: Respondents who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria will be randomized into one of the following arms:
- Control Arm (No Intervention)
- Group Contract Arm
- Individual Monetary Rewards Arm
- Individual Commitment Contract Arm
Subjects in Arms #2-4 will be cross-randomized into two subgroups:
- Additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates."
- No additional information treatments.
FOLLOW-UP SURVEY: After the participants finish their contract, they will be emailed a link to the follow-up survey that will be administered online via the Qualtrics survey platform. The survey should take approximately 5 minutes and can be completed anywhere the participant has an internet connection. Participants will be directly prompted to answer whether they have been able to quit smoking or lose their target weight in the past six months. If a participant self-reports a claim of smoking cessation or successful weight loss, they will be asked to furnish at-home verification of their claim.
IN-PERSON VERIFICATION: A randomly selected subset of successful participants will be asked for in-person verification of their claim with a urine test (smoking cessation) or in-person weigh-in (weight loss) at a Quest Diagnostics location of their choice.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 7
- Model description
- Respondents who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria will be randomized into one of the following arms: 1. Control Arm (No Intervention) 2. Group Contract Arm 3. Individual Monetary Rewards Arm 4. Individual Commitment Contract Arm To understand the effect that knowledge about the effectiveness of commitment contracts has on uptake, smoking quit rates, and weight loss, we will be cross-randomizing those assigned to Arms #2-4 into further subgroups: Subgroup A. In the initial survey, participants will receive additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates." In other words, we aim to provide information that will encourage present-biased or loss-averse individuals to participate in the programs that offer the greatest chance at success. Subgroup B. Participants will not receive any information about commitment contracts.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | –Subjects are not offered a group commitment contract, individual commitment contract, or individual monetary rewards. Subjects do not receive additional information treatments. |
| Group Commitment Contract + Information | Experimental | Behavioral: Group Commitment Contract, Other: InformationSubjects are offered a group commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments. |
| Individual Monetary Rewards + Information | Experimental | Behavioral: Individual Monetary Rewards, Other: InformationSubjects are offered individual monetary rewards for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments. |
| Individual Commitment Contract + Information | Experimental | Behavioral: Individual Commitment Contract, Other: InformationSubjects are offered an individual commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive additional information treatments. |
| Group Commitment Contract | Experimental | Behavioral: Group Commitment ContractSubjects are offered a group commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments. |
| Individual Monetary Rewards | Experimental | Behavioral: Individual Monetary RewardsSubjects are offered individual monetary rewards for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments. |
| Individual Commitment Contract | Experimental | Behavioral: Individual Commitment ContractSubjects are offered an individual commitment contract for smoking cessation or weight loss and receive no additional information treatments. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (9 listed)
- Aged 18 years or older
- Has smartphone with capability to reach internet daily and download app
- Able and willing to visit Quest location or take an at-home verification test
- Willing to furnish a payment method for commitment contract stakes
- Daily smoker
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Pregnancy
- Any terminal illness
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Group Commitment ContractA group contract where the primary individual, who will be tracked by the study, can invite peers to join the contract and form their group. To initiate a contract, a user must choose: the stakes, start date, and (for weight loss contracts) target weight, and and, optionally, to allow other members to have the power to invite other people to join the group. | Behavioural | Group Commitment Contract, Group Commitment Contract + Information |
| Individual Monetary RewardsIndividuals eligible for a $100 monetary reward (incentive) following verified smoking cessation or weight loss. | Behavioural | Individual Monetary Rewards, Individual Monetary Rewards + Information |
| Individual Commitment ContractIndividuals will have the opportunity to create an individual commitment contract to quit smoking. They will have the option to set the stakes, start date, and (for weight loss contracts) target weight. | Behavioural | Individual Commitment Contract, Individual Commitment Contract + Information |
| InformationIn the initial survey, participants will receive additional information treatments on the likelihood of success of the different incentives and contracts, with the goal of shifting "naives" to "sophisticates." | Other | Group Commitment Contract + Information, Individual Commitment Contract + Information, Individual Monetary Rewards + Information |
Primary outcome
Smoking Cessation / Weight Loss
Time frame: 6 months
Participants will be directly prompted to answer whether they have been able to quit smoking or reach their target weight in the past six months. If a participant self-reports a claim of success, they will be asked to furnish at-home (and, in some cases, in-person) verification.
Results and safety
Results are not available in the source record.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 16 Apr 2024.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Dean Karlan, PhD principal investigator
Northwestern University
Anna Tuchman, PhD principal investigator
Northwestern University
Jonathan Zinman, PhD principal investigator
Dartmouth College
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Group Commitment Contract, Individual Monetary Rewards and Individual Commitment Contract in people with Smoking Cessation and Weight Loss, run by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 9 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: paused, as of the sponsor's last update on 16 Apr 2024. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Results are not available in the source record.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Smoking Cessation / Weight Loss (time frame: 6 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 16 Apr 2024.