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The purpose of this paper is to describe how tailoring financial incentives for healthy behaviors to employees’ goals, values, and aspirations might improve the efficacy of incentives.

The authors integrate insights from self-determination theory (SDT) with principles from behavioral economics in the design of financial incentives by linking how incentives could help meet an employee’s life goals, values, or aspirations.

Tailored financial incentives could be more effective than standard incentives in promoting autonomous motivation necessary to initiate healthy behaviors and sustain them after incentives are removed.

Previous efforts to improve the design of financial incentives have tested different incentive designs that vary the size, schedule, timing, and target of incentives. The strategy for tailoring incentives builds on strong evidence that difficult behavior changes are more successful when integrated with important life goals and values. The authors outline necessary research to examine the effectiveness of this approach among at-risk employees.

Instead of offering simple financial rewards for engaging in healthy behaviors, existing programs could leverage incentives to promote employees’ autonomous motivation for sustained health improvements.

Effective application of these concepts could lead to programs more effective at improving health, potentially at lower cost.

The approach for the first time integrates key insights from SDT, behavioral economics, and tailoring to turn an extrinsic reward for behavior change into an internalized, self-sustaining motivator for long-term engagement in risk-reducing behaviors.

This study compared different types of full-time caregiver (e.g., children, older adults, COVID-19 patients) and subgroups (e.g., disability, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation) in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic for potentially meaningful distinctions.

Data from the 9,854 full-time caregivers identified in Phase 3.2 (July 21–October 11, 2021) of the US Census Household Pulse Survey (HPS) were analyzed in this study using multinomial logistic regression to examine relationships between caregiver types, marginalized subgroups, generation, and vaccination status.

The prevalence of caregiving was low, but the type of full-time caregiving performed varied by demographic group (i.e., disability, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, generation, and vaccination status). The relative risk of being a COVID-19 caregiver remained significant for being a member of each of the marginalized groups examined after all adjustments.

To date, the HPS has not been analyzed to predict the type of full-time informal caregiving performed during the COVID-19 pandemic or their characteristics. Research limitations of this analysis include the cross-sectional, experimental dataset employed, as well as some variable measurement issues.

Prior informal caregiver research has often focused on the experiences of those caring for older adults or children with special healthcare needs. It may be instructive to learn whether and how informal caregivers excluded from paid employment during infectious disease outbreaks vary in meaningful ways from those engaged in other full-time caregiving. Because COVID-19 magnified equity concerns, examining demographic differences may also facilitate customization of pathways to post-caregiving workforce integration.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and report on the mental health needs of those attending substance misuse services (SMS) adhering to the diagnostic criteria as defined in DSM 5 with reference to common mental health disorders. It also examines differences in the numbers of appropriately trained cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) therapists and highlights the lack of provision of CBT reflected in the much smaller number of accredited therapists in Wales compared to other parts of the UK.

This population was identified by way of an audit of data collected via the out-patient clinics conducted by the author.

The paper identifies a high proportion of patients who attended SMSs as having complex psychological need as a consequence of co-morbidity.

The results of the audit may have limitations but the implications from the findings suggest potential value in looking more at clinical outcomes following evidence-based psychological interventions.

A conclusion from the findings is suggested value in a more structured approach to looking at clinical outcomes.

This audit was undertaken in North Wales. There is no IAPT or matrix-structured Level II CBT training programmes available in Wales. The audit identifies the need for more evidence-based psychological interventions such as CBT linked to the development of such services. The apparent lack of political will to change the status quo is also highlighted as a problem.