Adolescent-Preferred Financial Incentives to Promote Type 1 Diabetes Self-Care: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Aims This study aimed to quantify preferences for the characteristics of a financial incentives program that would motivate adolescent engagement in type 1 diabetes (T1D) self-care. Method We performed a discrete choice experiment with 12–18 year-olds with T1D from two pediatric hospital endocrinology clinics (n = 317). We identified key attributes of incentives: (1) monthly value of the reward, (2) payment structure, and (3) difficulty of incentivized behaviors. In twelve choice questions, adolescents chose the incentive option from a pair of profiles that was more likely to motivate them to increase adherence to recommended self-care. Options presented were tailored to adolescents’ T1D technology use and perceived difficulty of completing each behavior. We analyzed data using a conditional logit model. Results The value of the reward accounted for 60.8% of preferences. Adolescents were willing to accept lower value rewards when incentive payments used positive vs. negative reinforcement (−$10.88 (95% CI: −$12.60, −9.24)) and preferred higher incentives for performing hard vs. easier behaviors (+$14.92 (95% CI: +$12.66, +$17.28)). Conclusions Stated preferences can inform intervention design. Future research will evaluate the external validity of the discrete choice experiment-informed intervention design by assessing adolescent health and behavioral outcomes in a randomized controlled trial.