{"doi":"10.1002/oby.23322","title":"Randomized controlled trial of financial incentives during weight‐loss induction and maintenance in online group weight control","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: This study examined the impact of a financial incentive scheme integrating process and outcome incentives across weight-loss induction and weight maintenance on 18-month weight outcomes. METHODS: This was a randomized controlled trial. Participants with overweight or obesity (n = 418; 91% female; 28% racial/ethnic minority) were randomized to an 18-month, online, group-based behavioral weight-control program (Internet-Only) or the same program with financial incentives provided for 12 months, contingent on self-regulatory weight-control behaviors (self-weighing, dietary self-monitoring, and physical activity) and weight-outcome benchmarks (Internet+Incentives). No financial incentives were provided from Months 13 to 18 to examine the durability of weight-control behaviors and outcomes without incentives. RESULTS: Weight-loss induction at Month 6 was significantly greater for Internet+Incentives than Internet-Only (6.8% vs. 4.9%, respectively, p = 0.01). Individuals receiving incentives were significantly more likely to maintain weight loss ≥ 5% at Month 12 (45% in Internet+Incentives vs. 32% in Internet-Only, p < 0.02) and remain weight stable (39% vs. 27%, respectively, p < 0.01). Internet+Incentives participants also reported significantly greater behavioral engagement through Month 12. However, once incentives ceased, there were no differences in sustained weight outcomes (Month 18), and engagement declined dramatically. CONCLUSIONS: Despite promoting greater treatment engagement and initial weight loss, financial incentives as offered in this study did not promote better extended weight control.","journal":"Obesity","year":2021,"id":184285,"datarank":0.5645838356221189,"base_score":2.5649493574615367,"endowment":2.5649493574615367,"self_citation_contribution":0.38474240361923057,"citation_network_contribution":0.1798414320028883,"self_endowment_contribution":0.38474240361923057,"citer_contribution":0.1798414320028883,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":12,"citer_count":11,"citers_with_citation_signal":6,"citers_with_endowment":6,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9315,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"ClinicalTrials.gov":["NCT02688621"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":452613,"name":"Rebecca A. Krukowski","orcid":"0000-0001-9193-2783","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":738916,"name":"Courtney M. Monroe","orcid":"0000-0002-8532-9731","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":738917,"name":"Melissa Stansbury","orcid":"0000-0003-3842-4880","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":689104,"name":"Chelsea A. Carpenter","orcid":"0000-0001-8834-7137","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":374509,"name":"Eric Finkelstein","orcid":"0000-0001-6443-9686","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":455993,"name":"Shelly Naud","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":738918,"name":"Doris Ogden","orcid":"0000-0002-3724-4506","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":738919,"name":"Jean Harvey","orcid":"0000-0002-9981-1430","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":689105,"name":"Delia Smith West","orcid":"0000-0002-4375-2785","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":47,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:48:26.340498Z","pmid":"34932889","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}