Can cash and texts keep psychosis patients in care?
NCT ID NCT05967195
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This pilot study tests whether offering small financial rewards (up to $50/month) and text reminders can encourage people with first-episode psychosis to attend their therapy and medication appointments. About 145 participants from two specialty clinics will take part over three 3-month periods, with adjustments made based on feedback. The goal is to see if this simple approach is acceptable and feasible for patients and clinicians.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- financial incentives and text messages
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this approach could improve treatment attendance and outcomes for people with early psychosis, reducing risks like suicide.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very early pilot study with only 145 participants, so results may not apply broadly. The intervention is modest and may not significantly change behavior.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Early phase 1
The earliest testing in people: a first look at safety, in a very small group.
- Participants
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About 145 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Feb 2025
- Expected to finish
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Jul 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. For all participants, age ≥ 18 years old. 2. For intervention trial and patient feasibility and acceptability measurement: Patients with first-episode psychosis, enrolled in Coordinated Specialty Care at the Psychosis Education, Assessment, Care and Empowerment (PEACE) clinic and Psychosis Evaluation and Recovery Center (PERC). 3. For clinician feasibility and acceptability measurement at intervention sites: Clinicians working at PEACE and PERC where the intervention will be piloted. 4. For clinician implementation facilitator and barrier assessment at other Connection LHS sites to assess for scalability: Clinicians in Connection LHS who work at sites other than PEACE and PERC.Participants must sign the informed consent form Exclusion Criteria: 1. For intervention trial and patient feasibility and acceptability measurement: Expectation of leaving coordinated specialty care programing within 6 months (which will exclude all of the PI's patient panel) and/or intellectual disability of sufficient degree that the patient's primary psychiatrist expects to compromise capacity to consent to this research and/or psychosis secondary to another medical condition (which may not share the same motivational features that are otherwise understood about the primary psychiatric conditions with psychosis). 2. For clinician feasibility and acceptability measurement at intervention sites: Study investigators who work at these clinics will be excluded from participation in the feasibility and acceptability study component given their role in the trial planning and execution. 3. For clinician implementation facilitator and barrier assessment at other Connection LHS sites to assess for scalability: none.
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As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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PEACE Program, Horizon House, Inc.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19123, United States
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (ENCOMPASS Program)
Raleigh, North Carolina, 27608, United States
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University of Pennsylvania
Philadephia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States
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