The Effectiveness of Team-based Financial Incentives for Increasing Long-term Smoking Cessation

About 70% of smokers report that they want to quit, but annually 2 to 3% of smokers succeed. Smoking-cessation programs and pharmacologic therapies have been proven effective in helping smokers quit, but only a few smokers are enrolled in those programs.

Financial incentives may contribute to reinforce smoking cessation among workers through the following pathways: (1) increasing the number of tobacco users who participate in cessation effort; (2) increasing the number of tobacco user who initiate an attempt to quit; and (3) increasing the number of tobacco users who sustain a successful quit effort. Moreover, there is a number of advantages to offering smoking cessation support in the workplace, including the accessibility of the target population, the availability of occupational health support and the potential for peer pressure and peer support. In addition, team-based approach for smoking cessation could likely make use of new or existing cessation support resources offered within the workplace.

This study is a clinical trial of team-based financial incentives for smoking cessation among a sample of 60 smokers, who are health care workers from St. Paul's Hospital in Korea. Smokers will be given a usual care (counseling, education and coverage of prescription drugs) plus a package of financial incentives for self-reported and biochemically validated smoking cessation (urine or saliva cotinine). All incentives will be provided to each team at 6 months post-quit date.