Should we pay pregnant smokers to quit? Preliminary findings of a feasibility trial

Marita Lynagh, Billie Bonevski, Robert Sanson-Fisher, Richard Symonds, I. Scott, Alix Hall, Christopher Oldmeadow

Research output: Contribution to journalMeeting Abstractpeer-review

Abstract

Oral Presentation Abstract Smoking during pregnancy is harmful to the unborn child. Few smoking cessation interventions have been successfully incorporated into standard antenatal care. We aimed to determine the feasibility of using financial incentives for encouraging pregnant smokers to quit. A randomised control trial was conducted to assess the feasibility and potential effectiveness of two varying financial incentives that increased incrementally in magnitude ($20 vs. $40AUD),compared to no incentive in reducing smoking in pregnant women attending an Australian public hospital antenatal clinic. Pregnant women who self-report smoking in the last 7 days and whose smoking status was biochemically verified were randomly allocated to one of three groups: a no incentive control group; a $20 incremental cash reward group; and a $40 incremental cash reward group. Smoking status was assessed via a touchscreen laptop survey at each clinic visit with saliva cotinine analysis used as biochemical validation. Women in the two incentive groups were eligible to receive a cash reward at each clinic visit during pregnancy if 7-day smoking cessation was achieved. We present the preliminary findings of the trial and discuss their implications in regard to future research, health policy and clinical practice.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)26
Number of pages1
JournalJournal of Smoking Cessation
Volume8
Issue numberS1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2013
Externally publishedYes

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