Monetary incentives improve recall of research consent information: It pays to remember.

Abstract

Research participants often fail to recall substantial amounts of informed consent information after delays of only a few days. Numerous interventions have proven effective at improving consent recall; however, virtually all have focused on compensating for potential cognitive deficits and have ignored motivational factors. In this pilot study, we randomly assigned 31 drug court clients participating in a clinical research trial to a standard consent procedure or to the same procedure plus incentives for correctly recalling consent information. The incentive group was told they would receive $5 for each of the 15 consent items they could answer correctly 1-week later. At the follow-up, the incentive group recalled a significantly greater percentage of consent information overall than the standard group (65% vs. 42%; p < .01). Similar findings were observed for specific categories of consent information, including study purpose and design, risks and benefits, and human subject protections. Effect sizes were all large (d = 0.89 to 1.25). Findings suggest that motivation plays a key role in recall of consent information and should be considered in the development of future interventions.

Contingency management for cocaine treatment: Cash vs. vouchers

“…Similar to our prior studies (Festinger et al, 2005, 2009) examining the use of cash remuneration to substance abusing research participants, these data provide additional support for the safety of cash payments. This is particularly important given the potential reductions in staff burden and associated costs (e.g., voucher printing, stocking of prize cabinets, inventory counts) that could be realized in a cash-based CM procedure.…”

“…The Recent Behavior Scale (RBS; Festinger, et al, 2005; 2009) is an 8-item, self-report assessment that inquires about the number of days participants engaged in drug and alcohol use and other high-risk behavior (i.e., gambling and solicitation) in the past 30 days. These behaviors were selected for inclusion based on expert consensus.…”

“…In a series of studies designed to examine the efficacy of cash incentives for increasing study follow-up rates researchers randomly assigned drug abusing outpatients to receive different payment amounts in either cash or gift certificate for attending a research follow-up appointment scheduled 6 months post-admission (Festinger et al, 2005; 2009). In both studies the higher-magnitude cash payments led to more attendance, greater study satisfaction, and increased willingness to participate in future studies.…”

What Women Who Use Drugs Have to Say about Ethical Research: Findings of an Exploratory Qualitative Study

“…They found that cash payments did not have a significant impact on participants' drug use or their perceptions of the coerciveness of the research, although higher cash amounts did improve study retention. Moreover, in a related study conducted by Festinger et al (2009), they found that payments were associated with higher comprehension (and retention) of consent forms.…”

Achieving new levels of recall in consent to research by combining remedial and motivational techniques: Table 1

“…Participants are often unaware that they were participating in a research study, fail to recall study-related risks, are unable to describe randomization procedures or placebo interventions, and are unaware that they can withdraw from a study without negative consequences. 3–5 Research in a population of substance abusing offenders 6,7 revealed that participants failed to recall 60% of consent information just two weeks after their initial consent, calling into question whether participants can make informed decisions about their initial or continued involvement in research.…”