Financial Incentives to Promote Stimulant Abstinence in a Community-Based Syringe Exchange Program

Purpose

The goal of this randomized control pilot study is to learn about a financial incentives intervention among individuals who use stimulants and take part in a community-based syringe exchange program. The main question it aims to answer is how financial incentives for not using stimulants will impact stimulant use. Participants in the experimental group will have the opportunity to earn financial incentives for providing a negative urine sample for stimulants using a point-of-care test, which indicates abstinence from stimulant use, along with health education on the health risks of stimulant use and substance injection. Researchers will compare the experimental group to the control group who will receive health education on the health risks of stimulants use and injection.

Condition

  • Stimulant Use

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Inclusion Criteria

  • be 18 years or older - report using stimulants in the past 30 days - meet the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) diagnosis for stimulant use disorder at a moderate or severe level (i.e., 6 or more of the 11 criteria) - participation in services at syringe exchange program

Exclusion Criteria

  • failure to meet one or more inclusionary criteria - individuals who are cognitively impaired by their drug use or psychiatric conditions that could preclude informed consent

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Other
Health Education
  • Behavioral: Incentives for Abstinence
    Participants in the incentives for abstinence condition will have the opportunity to earn financial incentives for abstaining from stimulant use.
  • Behavioral: Health Education
    The Health Education condition is based on a previous intervention used as a control in a number of other studies. Sessions consist of an educational program addressing a variety of health, wellness, and lifestyle topics adapted from a previously implemented wellness manual.
Experimental
Health Education plus Incentives for Abstinence
  • Behavioral: Incentives for Abstinence
    Participants in the incentives for abstinence condition will have the opportunity to earn financial incentives for abstaining from stimulant use.
  • Behavioral: Health Education
    The Health Education condition is based on a previous intervention used as a control in a number of other studies. Sessions consist of an educational program addressing a variety of health, wellness, and lifestyle topics adapted from a previously implemented wellness manual.

Recruiting Locations

Howard Center
Burlington, Vermont 05401
Contact:
Erin O'Keefe

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
University of Vermont

Study Contact

Richard Rawson
310-951-9091
richard.rawson@uvm.edu

Detailed Description

The investigators are proposing a two condition, parallel groups, randomized control pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of a financial incentives intervention among individuals who use stimulants and take part in a community-based syringe exchange program. The study design will include recruiting service recipients who already participate in programs offered by a syringe exchange program.The experimental group will have the opportunity to earn financial incentives contingent on providing a negative urine sample for stimulants using a point-of-care test, which indicates abstinence from stimulant use, in addition to health education on the health risks of stimulant use and substance injection. The control group will receive health education on the health risks of stimulants use and injection. All participants will participate in their syringe exchange services as usual. The investigators chose the health education as the control because participants across both conditions already receive the services provided by the syringe exchange program. Moreover, this control condition will help control for a potential type of between-groups variability.