Examining the impact of financial incentive removal on physical activity: A quasi-experimental study of 584,760 mobile health application users

BACKGROUND: Government interest in using financial incentives (FIs) to stimulate physical activity (PA) is increasing. The cost of longer-term incentive interventions may be prohibitive, however. PURPOSE: To examine the impact of FI withdrawal on PA. METHODS: A 25-week retrospective pre-post quasi-experimental study was conducted with users of a FI-based mHealth app. Users from three Canadian provinces were included. Daily FI were removed in Ontario (ON; intervention) but not British Columbia (BC) and Newfoundland and Labrador (NL; control). Simple linear regression models were used to examine weekly mean daily step count after FI withdrawal. RESULTS: The total sample included 584,760 users (Female: 63.5%; Age: 34.3 years). Following FI withdrawal, weekly mean daily step count decreased in all provinces with the largest decrease observed in ON (i.e., 198 and 274 fewer steps/day vs. BC and NL, respectively). CONCLUSION: These findings may be relevant for governments looking to deploy time-limited FI-based PA programs