Financial Incentives More Likely to Get People to Quit Smoking

Financial incentives are a more effective way to get employees to quit smoking than offering free deterrents such as nicotine patches or e-cigarettes, according to astudy in theNew England Journal of Medicine. The trial also provided large-scale, randomized evidence that the offer of free e-cigarettes does not result in higher rates of sustained abstinence than traditional smoking-cessation aids.The findings “suggest that employers could make their wellness programs more effective by offering money to get their employees to stop smoking instead of or in addition to cessation aids,” Scott D. Halpern, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, toldPsychiatric News. Additionally, “they suggest that e-cigarettes may not be an effective component of a global anti-smoking campaign and may even derail this effort.”Halpern and colleagues assigned more than 6,000 workers from 54 U.S. companies and their spouses who were current smokers to one of four smoking-cessation interventions or to usual care only. Usual care consisted of access to information regarding the benefits of smoking cessation and a motivational text-messaging service. The four interventions consisted of usual care plus one of the following free cessation aids: nicotine-replacement therapy or pharmacotherapy (with e-cigarettes if standard therapies failed), free e-cigarettes (without a requirement that standard therapies fail), free cessation aids plus $600 in earned rewards for...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: E-cigarettes FDA financial incentives New England Journal of Medicine nicotine patch Scott Halpern smoking cessation Source Type: research