It is not easy to quit smoking but a new study suggests that it could be easier with the right incentives.
And it turns out that the best incentive might simply just be money. Cold hard cash.
In the study, which was released last week, smokers who had to invest $150 of their own money were easily more likely to quit than smokers who did not have to wager any of their own money.
“As we think about novel approaches to smoking cessation, these findings provide evidence that financial incentives can be a powerful motivator,” explains study author Dr. Troyen Brennan.
Additionally, lead study author Dr. Scott Halpern says, “This study is one of the first to compare incentive programs that first require deposits and programs that entail pure rewards to promote healthy behaviors. The results are fully consistent with the behavioral theory that people are typically more motivated to avoid losses than to seek gains.”
Furthermore, the assistant professor of medicine with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania goes on to say, “Although the need to make monetary deposits deters some people from participating; deposit-requiring incentive programs can produce robust, long-term results in helping to change complex health behaviors.”
The study followed more than 2,500 participants who were offered the typical care for smoking cessation—which could include local resource information, guides from the American Cancer Society, as well as free access to behavioral modification programs (for those lucky enough to receive health care benefits).
Finally, Dr. Halpern commits, “Perhaps the most important finding is that incentive programs that required people to deposit $150 of their own money were less effective overall than reward-based programs of similar value because few people accepted such deposit programs.”
Source_Pioneer News
![In this May 7, 2015 photo released by Nemours Children's Specialty Care, Dr. Carolyn Bannister, chief of pediatric anesthesiology for Nemours Children's Specialty Care, starts Conner's anesthesia prior to surgery at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville. For the first time in their 5-month-old lives, conjoined twins Carter and Conner squirmed in separate cribs. The Jacksonville boys who shared a liver and small intestine were successfully separated Thursday after a 12-hour operation by three surgeons, five anesthesiologists and 12 other staffers. [Nemours Children's Specialty Care/Michael LeGrand via AP]](http://www.tampabay.com/resources/images/dti/rendered/2015/05/AP_AX603_CONJOINED_TWINS_SE_15197369_8col.jpg)
![In this May 7, 2015 photo released by Nemours Children's Specialty Care, Dr. Carolyn Bannister, chief of pediatric anesthesiology for Nemours Children's Specialty Care, starts Conner's anesthesia prior to surgery at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville. For the first time in their 5-month-old lives, conjoined twins Carter and Conner squirmed in separate cribs. The Jacksonville boys who shared a liver and small intestine were successfully separated Thursday after a 12-hour operation by three surgeons, five anesthesiologists and 12 other staffers. [Nemours Children's Specialty Care/Michael LeGrand via AP]](http://www.tampabay.com/resources/images/dti/rendered/2015/05/AP_AX601_CONJOINED_TWINS_SE_15197364_8col.jpg)
![In this May 7, 2015 photo released by Nemours Children's Specialty Care, Dr. Carolyn Bannister, chief of pediatric anesthesiology for Nemours Children's Specialty Care, starts Conner's anesthesia prior to surgery at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville. For the first time in their 5-month-old lives, conjoined twins Carter and Conner squirmed in separate cribs. The Jacksonville boys who shared a liver and small intestine were successfully separated Thursday after a 12-hour operation by three surgeons, five anesthesiologists and 12 other staffers. [Nemours Children's Specialty Care/Michael LeGrand via AP]](http://www.tampabay.com/resources/images/dti/rendered/2015/05/AP_AX602_CONJOINED_TWINS_SE_15197360_8col.jpg)
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