{"doi":"10.1111/acem.14979","title":"Factors associated with incentive redemption among participants in a multicenter prospective syncope clinical study","abstract":"Incentives are a cornerstone of attracting and retaining participants in clinical research studies.1 They serve as compensation for the time and effort individuals dedicate to the research process.1 However, previous randomized clinical trials found incentivizing was not associated with increased rates of clinical trial recruitment.2, 3 Furthermore, the rate participants redeem these incentives can vary considerably.1, 4 Although numerous methods have been used to increase trial recruitment, no studies have been conducted to explore factors associated with incentive redemption, regardless of clinical area. Understanding the factors that influence redemption is crucial for researchers to optimize research recruitment and follow-up strategies.5 First, it allows for a more strategic allocation of research funds toward participant compensation.1 By identifying what influences redemption rates, researchers can optimize incentive structures to maximize participation while staying within budgetary constraints. Second, knowledge of these factors can help identify potential barriers associated with the redemption process itself.5 For example, a cumbersome or inconvenient redemption method might discourage participants from claiming their reward, which may discourage future participation. Finally, this knowledge can inform the development of more effective incentive strategies. Researchers can enhance their motivational impact and improve overall study enrollment by tailoring incentives to specific participant demographics or preferences. Our objective was to identify key variables influencing whether participants successfully claimed their rewards in a multicenter, prospective syncope study. This information can then be used to refine incentive programs and ultimately lead to more efficient and effective research processes. We conducted a secondary analysis using a federally funded, multicenter prospective cohort study, Practical Approaches to Care in Emergency Syncope (PACES, NCT04533425). The PACES study was conducted at six urban academic medical centers across three states: New York, Tennessee, and California. The objective was to externally validate two syncope risk-stratification tools, the Canadian Syncope Risk Score and the FAINT score.6, 7 Adults aged 40 or older who presented to the emergency department (ED) following an episode of syncope or presyncope between August 2021 and September 2023 were included. We prepared and reported following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Ethical approvals were obtained from the institutional review boards (IRB) at enrolling sites. Patient confidentiality was preserved by using anonymous health information. Data from the PACES database included patient demographics, participating sites, and incentive status information. For the PACES study, TruCentive, a platform specializing in incentive programs, was used. Participants who consented to enroll and completed telephone follow-up 30 days after their ED visits received two digital gift cards of $25 each. The gift card was electronically sent via cell phone or email. Participants could choose from six different retail vendors for each gift card code: Amazon, Walmart, Target, CVS, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Whole Foods Market. The redemption codes automatically expired after 6 months, and up to three reminders were sent out during this time. Research coordinators were available by phone to assist participants with the gift card redemption. Participants enrolling in Rochester, New York, were given a single $50 gift card code upon consenting to participate in this study, in contrast to participants at other sites who received two $25 gift cards, once after giving their consents and another after the 30-day follow-up, due to local IRB requirements. We collected data on demographic factors and redemption of gift cards from the PACES and TruCentive databases. We also assessed the participants' A","journal":"Academic Emergency Medicine","year":2024,"id":473578,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9496,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":418563,"name":"Daniel K. Nishijima","orcid":"0000-0003-4952-8212","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1309545,"name":"Nancy Wood","orcid":"0000-0002-2421-691X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1271338,"name":"John DeAngelis","orcid":"0000-0002-4223-2526","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":16594,"name":"Alan B. Storrow","orcid":"0000-0002-2893-808X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":704504,"name":"Jonathan Schimmel","orcid":"0000-0002-6383-8308","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1309898,"name":"Nataly Beltre","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1309899,"name":"Dana Sacco","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":331583,"name":"Marc A. Probst","orcid":"0000-0002-1503-7178","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":929703,"name":"Wachira Wongtanasarasin","orcid":"0000-0002-1418-0036","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":10,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:06:04.967429Z","pmid":"38940329","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":[]}