Smoking Cessation: Financial Incentives

Smoking Cessation

The aim of this intervention is to test if the investigator, by offering a financial incentive to smokers who abstinence from smoking, can: 1. recruit more smokers with low socioeconomic status to municipal smoking cessation programs 2. achieve higher abstinence rates at municipal smoking cessation programs among citizens with low economic status - Rather than by use of campaigns (=usual strategy) informing citizens about their options for support at municipal smoking cessation programs?

For decades the prevalence of smokers has been declining. However, during the last four years the prevalence is stagnated. All municipalities are offering support to/ and during smoking cessation. Nevertheless, a lot of the municipalities find it very difficult to recruit smokers to their programs - in particular smokers with low socioeconomic status. Hypothesis: It is assumed that more smokers with low socioeconomic status, which are otherwise very difficult to reach with smoking cessation offerings, will attend in municipal smoking cessation programs if they are offered a financial incentive. It is also assumed that smokers with low socioeconomic status, who have difficulty quitting smoking, will achieve higher smoking cessation rates if they are offered a financial incentive of abstinence from smoking. The target group of this study is therefore smokers with low socioeconomic status (SES). The study involves 6 intervention municipalities (3 financial incentives municipalities and 3 campaign municipalities), and 6 control municipalities. The investigator conducts matched randomization at municipality level, and matches the municipalities on number of smokers recruited to smoking cessation programs in the previous year (2017). All 6 intervention municipalities receive 102.000 DKK (16536,43 UDS) which must be used on their intervention. Beside the intervention everything goes on as usual in each municipality. Each municipality is its own control and the change will be analyzed after the intervention. The prevalence of smokers in each municipality is registered as usual by means of the Health Profiles, however not in this study!, which aim not is to measure the number of citizens quitting smoking unaided, but solely aim to focus on the municipals smoking cessation activities. 1. Intervention in the 3 financial incentives municipalities: the municipalities will make simple invitations and advertisements, showing that smokers can achieve a financial incentive of 1200 DKK if they abstinence from smoking. The period of a smoking cessation program is 7 weeks, and participants will receive a financial incentive as a gift voucher the 4 last meeting days, if validated abstinent from smoking. 2. Intervention in the 3 campaign municipalities: each municipality decides how the campaigns/advertisement should look/be like. The campaign should try to target smokers with low SES, recommending getting support during smoking cessation. 3. Control municipalities: 6 clean control municipalities perform their smoking cessation activities as usual and do not receive any financial resources. They do not know that they are control group in a trial. The investigators measure validated recruitment- and abstinence rates 6 and 12 months after last session.

Denmark