Financial rewards for quitting smoking do help smokers — including pregnant women — kick the habit and remain smoke-free, a new study confirms.
“Rewards, such as money or vouchers, have been used to encourage smokers to quit, and to reward them if they stay stopped. Such schemes have been used in workplaces, in clinics and hospitals, and within community programs,” said study lead author Dr. Caitlin Notley. She’s with Norwich Medical School of the University of East Anglia in England.
“We wanted to know whether these schemes actually work long term, as previously it was thought that perhaps incentives only worked for the time that they were given. We found that they do help people stay smoke-free, even after the incentive scheme ends,” Notley said in a university news release.
For the new study, the investigators analyzed 33 randomized controlled trials. The studies included more than 21,600 people in eight countries and looked at
