Published 23 April 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1456
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1456

Feature

Public Health

Betting on health

Karen McColl, freelance writer

1 Savoie, France

karen@karenmccoll.co.uk

Analysis: doi:10.1136/bmj.b1415

New websites in the US are encouraging people to make public commitments to change their behaviour. Karen McColl investigates whether they work and the implications for public health policy

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Increasingly, people who are desperate to change their behaviour are putting their money on the line to motivate them towards success. But can placing a public bet really help people to lose weight, quit smoking, or exercise more? Could this type of commitment contract be a valuable tool for promoting public health?

Over 20 000 people have publicly signed up to change their behaviour at the online commitment store StickK (pronounced stick—the silent second letter k refers to the legal shorthand for contract) since the website launched in January 2008. Of these, about a third have placed a financial stake—promising to hand over a total of $1.28m (£870 000; {euro}960 000) if they fail to meet their goals.

It may seem surprising that people chose to put their money at risk in this way, especially since many would already have tried to change their behaviour and failed. But Yale economics . . . [Full text of this article]


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Using financial incentives to achieve healthy behaviour
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BMJ 2009 338: b1415. [Extract] [Full Text]

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