Evaluating the Carrot Rewards App, a Population-Level Incentive-Based Intervention Promoting Step Counts Across Two Canadian Provinces: Quasi-Experimental Study

JMIR MHealth and UHealth
Marc MitchellGuy Faulkner

Abstract

The Carrot Rewards app was developed as part of an innovative public-private partnership to reward Canadians with loyalty points, exchangeable for retail goods, travel rewards, and groceries for engaging in healthy behaviors such as walking. This study examined whether a multicomponent intervention including goal setting, graded tasks, biofeedback, and very small incentives tied to daily step goal achievement (assessed by built-in smartphone accelerometers) could increase physical activity in two Canadian provinces, British Columbia (BC) and Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). This 12-week, quasi-experimental (single group pre-post) study included 78,882 participants; 44.39% (35,014/78,882) enrolled in the Carrot Rewards "Steps" walking program during the recruitment period (June 13-July 10, 2016). During the 2-week baseline (or "run-in") period, we calculated participants' mean steps per day. Thereafter, participants earned incentives in the form of loyalty points (worth Can $0.04 ) every day they reached their personalized daily step goal (ie, baseline mean+1000 steps=first daily step goal level). Participants earned additional points (Can $0.40) for meeting their step goal 10+ nonconsecutive times in a 14-day period (called a "S...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 13, 2019·British Journal of Sports Medicine·Renante Rondina IiMarc S Mitchell
Aug 11, 2020·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Jacob BrowerMarc S Mitchell
Feb 14, 2019·International Journal of Public Health·Natan FeterMarcelo Cozzensa da Silva
Jul 31, 2020·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Ramona WurstReinhard Fuchs
May 17, 2019·British Journal of Sports Medicine·Marc S MitchellGuy Faulkner
Nov 19, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Thitikorn TopothaiChonlaphan Piyathawornanan
Jul 27, 2021·Social Science & Medicine·Francesca PontinMichelle A Morris

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Software Mentioned

Google Play
Rstudio
R
Fitbit
Carrot
iOS Health Kit
Google Fit

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