Do financial incentives increase treatment adherence in people with severe mental illness? A systematic review
Open accessAbstract
SUMMARY Aim – To identify whether financial or material incentives improve treatment adherence in people with severe mental illness. Method – A systematic review of studies published between 1950 and 2008 was conducted. EMBASE, MEDLINE, EBM, AMED and PsycINFO were searched. Studies were included if a financial or material incentive was offered and if the sample had a severe mental illness. Results – Fourteen articles were identified; three studies on adherence to psychiatric treatment and one on physical exercise. Ten articles used incentives for adherence to substance misuse treatment programmes. In all studies, financial incentives were associated with an increase in adherence; however the effect was not always maintained once the incentive was withdrawn. Conclusion – While existing research suggests that financial incentives may improve treatment adherence in severely mentally ill populations, very few studies focus on psychiatric treatment. Further research may address the long term effectiveness of incentives on adherence in this population. Declaration of Interest: The authors on this paper were supported by funds from the Wellcome Trust. All authors worked on a Wellcome Trust funded qualitative focus group study exploring stakeholder views on offering patients financial incentives to adhere to antipsychotic medication. Priebe is also lead applicant on a National Institute of Health Research (England) (NIHR) awarded grant to conduct a clinical trial on the use of financial incentives to achieve maintenance antipsychotic medication adherence.
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A few studies have examined whether financial incentives improve adherence to mental health treatment.
“A few studies have examined whether financial incentives (e.g., vouchers, nominal cash payments, or raffles) improve adherence to mental health treatment (32–34)”
From Improving Acceptability and Uptake Behavior for Internet-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (2021) · cites this paper as [32]
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- Authors
- Burton, A., Marougka, S., & Priebe, S.
- Affiliations
- Queen Mary University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Priebe, Stefan
- Venue
- Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2010-09
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 233-242
- ISSN
- 1121-189X (ISSN-L)
- 2038-1816
- OpenAlex
- W2116139476
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- qmro.qmul.ac.uk
- Locations
- Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Queen Mary Research Online (Queen Mary University of London) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Medication Adherence and Compliance
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Keywords
- financial incentives, medication adherence, severe mental illness, psychiatric treatment, addiction treatment, exercise adherence, antipsychotic adherence
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Humans, Motivation, Patient Compliance, Severity of Illness Index
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