Revising Employee Benefits for the Sake of Health

NCT00097461 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 05000805-CC-0008
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 408
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will explore ways in which employee benefits may be designed to improve people's health, through examining the viewpoints and preferences of low-income people. A person's health is affected not only by being able to receive health care but also by several factors such as income and education. People with lower incomes have been found to be not as healthy as those with higher incomes. While the governments of many countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are currently working on public policy to address this topic, the likelihood is small that the United States, given its market-based economy, will do the same. However, owing to the heavy reliance in the United States on employer-sponsored health insurance, it would be useful to explore the possibility of insuring some of the measures that people can take to improve their health, and to do that through employee benefit packages. Solutions might include extended unemployment insurance, more education, job training, exercise programs, help for housing, disability insurance, and extra retirement benefits. Adults who have a minimum of a sixth-grade reading level, have low incomes, are English speaking may be eligible for this study. For recruitment, 400 people who live and work in the Washington, D.C, area will be invited to participate, and about12 people will take part in each session. Unless people in the study participate during working hours, they will each be paid $75 at the conclusion of the session. The study consists of one phase, in which participants will engage in a group exercise that lasts for approximately 2-1/2 hours. During that time, participants will have the chance to say what employee benefits they would choose, if the opportunity arose, to improve their health. They will first make those choices by themselves and then make choices along with other people in the group. While group members talk, the discussion will be recorded on a tape recorder. Participants will be asked to give information about themselves and their opinions but will not be asked for any information that identifies them personally, except for data needed to pay participants with a paycheck. They will also get to use a computer and will be shown how to use it, if necessary. If videotaping or photographs are done during the exercise, the investigators of the study will ask for separate signed permission to do so. Participants will be asked to respect the privacy of others in the group and to not discuss the opinions of others after leaving the session.

Conditions

Healthy

Keywords

Employee Health; Insurance Benefit; Fringe Benefit; Health Status; Socioeconomic Factors

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Men and women who are between the ages of 18-65, and are employed with an income of up to three times the federal poverty level will be included in this study so that information can be learned about the employee benefit preferences of low-income employees.
• Minority individuals, particularly African Americans and English speaking Hispanics will be included, and will be recruited to represent one third of the study sample because of the high prevalence of minorities among the low-income population in the US.

You may not qualify if:

• Non-English speakers will be excluded because they will be unable to participate in the discussion that participants engage in about the reasons for their benefit choices.
• Individuals who cannot read at a 6th grade level, will be excluded because they will have difficulty reading information provided on the computer screen during the exercise.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC): lead

Study Sites (1)

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Danis M, Biddle AK, Dorr Goold S. Insurance benefit preferences of the low-income uninsured. J Gen Intern Med. 2002 Feb;17(2):125-33. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2002.10609.x.

  PMID: 11841528 BACKGROUND

• Danis M, Biddle AK, Goold SD. Enrollees choose priorities for Medicare. Gerontologist. 2004 Feb;44(1):58-67. doi: 10.1093/geront/44.1.58.

  PMID: 14978321 BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Marion Danis, M.D.

  National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: NIH
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 23, 2004
• First Posted: November 24, 2004
• Study Start: September 28, 2004
• Study Completion: April 18, 2017
• Last Updated: October 6, 2017

Record last verified: 2017-04-18

Locations

US (1)