Financial Incentives for Promoting Participation in a School-Based Parenting Program in Low-Income Communities

Abstract

Although financial incentives are a well-accepted strategy for raising parent participation rates in prevention studies, they are rarely employed in practice due to concerns about their ethics, sustainability, and public acceptability. We sought to address these common concerns in the context of a larger prevention study using financial incentives to boost parent participation in a group-based parenting program implemented in an urban school district. We examined the extent to which the financial incentives delivered via bank debit cards ($15 for attending weekly group sessions, $5 for completing weekly practice assignments) motivated parents to enroll in the program and were associated with higher attendance and practice completion but poorer participation quality in group sessions, and how parents used the extra cash. Over 3 years, 67.4% ( n = 372) of eligible families enrolled in a parenting program called the Chicago Parent Program. Most parents were African American (68%) or Latinx (24%); 67% reported annual household incomes < $20,000. Although 71.2% of parents reported that the financial incentives motivated their enrollment, the most important motivators pertained to wanting to be a better parent. Parents citing incentives as motivating their enrollment had higher attendance than those who did not ( p = .01). Quality of parent participation was high and unrelated to whether financial incentives motivated enrollment. Parents reported using the extra cash to purchase items for their children (92%) and groceries (56%). Results suggest that financial incentives targeting low-income families of young children may improve parent participation rates without diminishing their intrinsic motivation to improve their parenting.

Building Equitable Patient Partnerships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Key Considerations for Research and Policy

“…PPs experiencing social marginalization may need to overcome multiple barriers to participation. For individuals living on low incomes, financial honoraria upfront can promote participation and reduce attrition over the course of a project ( Gross and Bettencourt 2019 ). A patient-oriented project is emergent by design; however, patient partnerships in the middle of a pandemic require an even greater degree of flexibility and agility in order to engage with marginalized populations.…”

Does Social and Economic Disadvantage Predict Lower Engagement with Parenting Interventions? An Integrative Analysis Using Individual Participant Data

“…A systematic review found that monetary incentives can increase enrolment in parenting programs and initial attendance rates but not retention (Gonzalez et al, 2018). Gross and Bettencourt (2019) found that 71% of low-income parents in their study cited cash incentives as a motivation to enroll, and that attendance rates of those parents were higher, but the quality of participation was unrelated to whether incentives motivated enrolment. Rodriguez et al (2020) found that parents in their monetary incentive condition were more engaged in sessions than those in the program-as-usual condition but not more inclined to enroll.…”

Getting the word out: Methods of learning about research and motivations for participation in a study focusing on a reproductive-aged Latina/x population

“…Overall, only 14.2% of participants in ELLAS listed "financial reimbursement" as one of their top three reasons for participating in the study. A study investigating motivations for participating in a school-based parenting program in Latinx and low-income communities found that intrinsic motivation and benefits from the program outweighed the incentive of receiving extra money to attend these sessions [37]. One study that investigated motivations of German women for participation in a clinical trial for menstrual pain found financial incentives less important than an interest in finding alternative solutions to dealing with pain and furthering research in a field that affects participants [38].…”