According to a recent MSNBC article, a little bit of incentive and can go a long way in getting kids to take drugs. Researchers recently reported on a program that offered reward points to kids that regularly took their prescribed drugs and followed doctors’ orders.
According to one of the researchers, the incentive program is really a motivator, as kids took more drugs when rewards are offered. In the program, kids were offered rewards such as books, gift certificates, and remote-control cars for continuing to take their inhaled steroid asthma drugs.
Some of the kids in the program reportedly became competitive about earning points. “If you were the kid who got the remote-control car, you were pretty cool for awhile,” stated one doctor in the article. The program was touted as a win-win situation since kid’s generally took more drugs and doctors did not have to work so hard to convince them.
The article pointed out that more than 17 million Americans, including about 5 million children, are suffering from asthma in the U.S. Can these conditions be managed without the use of drugs? If children learn early that rewards are associated with taking drugs, would this lead to conditioning that perhaps could result in kids taking drugs as teenagers and/or as adults?
Raising kids in a drug-free health oriented lifestyle sounds more like a win-win to me. There’s no question that a lot more work is involved but you cannot put a price on the health and well-being of a family.
MSNBC: Freebies entice kids to take medicine
planetc1.com-news @ 5:52 am | Article ID: 985701168
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