Text messages with financial incentives for men with obesity

About The Study: Among men with obesity, an intervention with text messaging with financial incentive significantly improved weight loss compared with a control group, whereas text messaging alone was not significantly better than the control condition. These findings support text messaging combined with financial incentives to attain weight loss in men with obesity.

Quote from corresponding author Prof. Pat Hoddinott, M.B., B.S., Ph.D.:

“Losing weight can make people feel better, reduce their risk of many health problems such as diabetes, and helps the health service with their aim to keep men well. However, we know men often don’t like to go to traditional weight loss groups.

“This was a very carefully planned study, created for men by men. We worked closely with various men’s health groups and charities, including Men’s Health Forum in the UK and Ireland, with more than 1000 men living with obesity informing the design of the incentive structure.

“The research showed that offering cash incentives was a popular and effective way of helping men to lose weight. This initiative would be a low-cost solution for the health service to offer to men, requiring only four short weight appointments, and with money paid out only at the end to those who lose over 5% of their starting weight.”

Media advisory: The study is being presented at the European Congress on Obesity.

Contact information for Prof. Hoddinott:

Press officer: Sarah Manning, sarah.manning@stir.ac.uk; 01786 466436 / 07341 052 750.

 (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.7064)

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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