Investigating the effect of providing monetary incentives to participants on completion rates of referred co-respondents: An embedded randomized controlled trial. Study within a trial (SWAT) protocol

TY - JOUR

T1 - Investigating the effect of providing monetary incentives to participants on completion rates of referred co-respondents

T2 - An embedded randomized controlled trial. Study within a trial (SWAT) protocol

AU - Dunn, Abby

AU - Alvarez, James

AU - Arbon, Amy

AU - Bremner, Stephen

AU - Elsby-Pearson, Chloe

AU - Emsley, Richard

AU - Jones, Christopher

AU - Lawrence, Peter

AU - Lester, Kathryn J

AU - Majdandžić, Mirjana

AU - Morson, Natalie

AU - Perry, Nicky

AU - Simner, Julia

AU - Cartwright-Hatton, Sam

AU - Thomson, Abi

N1 - Funding Information: Funding for the trial provided by the Kavli Trust [ 38/19 ] with support from the University of Sussex . Publisher Copyright: © 2023

PY - 2023/4

Y1 - 2023/4

N2 - BACKGROUND: Parent-report questionnaires are a common method of generating data on child outcomes in mental health studies. A second report from another person who knows the child (co-respondent) is implemented to reduce bias and increase objectivity. The success of this approach is dependent on the engagement of co-respondents, which can be difficult. Financial incentives are used to increase data return in clinical trials, and to promote referral rates in online marketing. This protocol describes the use of an embedded randomised controlled trial (RCT) to investigate the effect of financial incentives on rates of co-respondent data completion. In the host RCT (of an online intervention designed to reduce the impact of a parent's anxiety on their child) index participants (i.e. parents) are asked to invite a co-respondent to complete measures on the index child. This study will test the hypothesis that providing monetary incentives to index participants will increase the outcome measure completion rate of co-respondents.METHODS: Embedded RCT of two parallel groups. Participants in the intervention arm will be sent a £10 voucher if their chosen co-respondent completes online baseline measures. Participants in the control arm will not be offered payment regardless of their chosen co-respondent's behaviour. 1754 participants will take part. Analysis will compare co-respondent outcome measure completion rates between the two arms at baseline and follow-up.CONCLUSION: Findings from this study will provide evidence on the impact of offering payment to index participants on return rates of co-respondent data. This will inform resource allocation within future clinical trials.

AB - BACKGROUND: Parent-report questionnaires are a common method of generating data on child outcomes in mental health studies. A second report from another person who knows the child (co-respondent) is implemented to reduce bias and increase objectivity. The success of this approach is dependent on the engagement of co-respondents, which can be difficult. Financial incentives are used to increase data return in clinical trials, and to promote referral rates in online marketing. This protocol describes the use of an embedded randomised controlled trial (RCT) to investigate the effect of financial incentives on rates of co-respondent data completion. In the host RCT (of an online intervention designed to reduce the impact of a parent's anxiety on their child) index participants (i.e. parents) are asked to invite a co-respondent to complete measures on the index child. This study will test the hypothesis that providing monetary incentives to index participants will increase the outcome measure completion rate of co-respondents.METHODS: Embedded RCT of two parallel groups. Participants in the intervention arm will be sent a £10 voucher if their chosen co-respondent completes online baseline measures. Participants in the control arm will not be offered payment regardless of their chosen co-respondent's behaviour. 1754 participants will take part. Analysis will compare co-respondent outcome measure completion rates between the two arms at baseline and follow-up.CONCLUSION: Findings from this study will provide evidence on the impact of offering payment to index participants on return rates of co-respondent data. This will inform resource allocation within future clinical trials.

KW - Co-respondents

KW - Data collection

KW - Digital interventions

KW - Embedded RCT

KW - Incentivization

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85148058697

U2 - 10.1016/j.conctc.2023.101090

DO - 10.1016/j.conctc.2023.101090

M3 - Article

C2 - 36865678

SN - 2451-8654

VL - 32

JO - Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications

JF - Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications

M1 - 101090

ER -