Unique Digital Images as Incentives in Clinical Trials: A Digital Shift Toward Meaningful Participation

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Clinical trial recruitment and retention face challenges with traditional compensation.
• Digital health innovations offer new avenues for participant engagement.
• Existing incentives may not fully leverage intrinsic motivation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and illustrate a novel digital incentive for clinical trial participation.
• To explore the use of personalized digital artworks (NFTs) as symbolic rewards.
• To investigate the potential of digital incentives for enhancing engagement and retention.

Main Methods:

• Participants engaged in AI-personalized digital therapeutics training via CURATE.DTx.
• Individualized learning trajectories were transformed into unique digital artworks.
• These artworks were minted as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and awarded upon trial completion.

Main Results:

• The proposed method integrates gamification, personalization, and blockchain technology.
• This approach aims to support both intrinsic and extrinsic participant motivation.
• The study provides an illustrative example of digital incentive implementation.

Conclusions:

• Digital incentives like personalized NFTs may offer a more effective engagement strategy than monetary rewards alone.
• This novel approach has implications for decentralized healthcare and long-term behavior change.
• Further research is encouraged to explore digital incentives in clinical trials and health interventions.