Money can't buy happiness: A randomized controlled trial of a digital mental health app with versus without financial incentives.

ABSTRACT: Mental health disorders are prevalent among college students and increasing in frequency and severity. However, there is a significant gap between those who need treatment and those who engage in treatment. Given the documented efficacy of financial incentives for promoting health behavior change and engagement in treatment, financial incentives may help, along with nonfinancial behavioral incentives such as motivational messaging, gamification, and loss aversion techniques. We compared brief (28-day) use of two versions of a behavioral economics-inspired digital mental health app, NeuroFlow: (1) the full app including financial incentives and nonfinancial behavioral incentives (treatment group) and (2) a version of the app with nonfinancial behavioral incentives only (control group

SUBMITTER: Chang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10286537 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature