Financial incentives for abstinence among socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals in smoking cessation treatment.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the effectiveness of offering adjunctive financial incentives for abstinence (contingency management [CM]) within a safety net hospital smoking cessation program.


METHODS
We randomized participants (n = 146) from a Dallas County, Texas, Tobacco Cessation Clinic from 2011 to 2013 to usual care (UC; cessation program; n = 71) or CM (UC + 4 weeks of financial incentives; n = 75), and followed from 1 week before the quit date through 4 weeks after the quit date. A subset (n = 128) was asked to attend a visit 12 weeks after the scheduled quit date.


RESULTS
Participants were primarily Black (62.3%) or White (28.1%) and female (57.5%). Most participants were uninsured (52.1%) and had an annual household income of less than $12 000 (55.5%). Abstinence rates were significantly higher for those assigned to CM than UC at all visits following the quit date (all Ps < .05). Point prevalence abstinence rates in the CM and UC groups were 49.3% versus 25.4% at 4 weeks after the quit date and 32.8% versus 14.1% at 12 weeks after the quit date. CM participants earned an average of $63.40 ($150 possible) for abstinence during the first 4 weeks after the scheduled quit date.


CONCLUSIONS
Offering small financial incentives for abstinence might be an effective means to improve abstinence rates among socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals participating in smoking cessation treatment.
Darla E. Kendzor, Michael S. Businelle, Insiya B. Poonawalla, Erica L. Cuate, Anshula Kesh, and Debra M. Rios are with the University of Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health, Dallas. Ping Ma is with the Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. Davis S. Balis is with the Department of General Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
Darla E
DE
Kendzor
Michael S
MS
Businelle
Insiya B
IB
Poonawalla
Erica L
EL
Cuate
Anshula
A
Kesh
Debra M
DM
Rios
Ping
P
Ma
David S
DS
Balis
D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000191:economics*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013781:Texas; D014040:Token Economy; D016896:Treatment Outcome