Latest study suggests that smokers who wager money on themselves to quit smoking have better odds of getting rid of smoking.
There are different ways a person can try and quit smoking. However, a new study reveals that earning back money, which was put towards a deposit to quit smoking, has higher chances of smokers quitting the habit.
Dr. Scott Halpern, an assistant professor of medicine at University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, explains that therapy involving nicotine replacement, free counseling, and more do not have great impact on smokers in comparison to paying smokers to quit smoking.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that about 18 percent of American adults are regular smokers and this percentage has not changed in nearly a decade. There are many smoking cessation techniques available to smokers but efficient methods are still needed to make smokers quit smoking.
Dr. Halpern revealed that the latest study involved over 2,500 participants and all were working in CVS Health across different parts of the U.S. Participants had the choice to enroll for take a cash reward of $800 if they stopped smoking or the option to earn back $150 deposit plus $650 if they successfully quit smoking.
People who had put the deposit had the risk of losing the money if they were unable to stop smoking. The study found that only 14 percent of the participants opted for the deposit scheme. However, people who took part in this program were twice as more likely to quit smoking in comparison to people who would receive a cash incentive to stop smoking.
"We found that reward-based programs were more effective overall because many people didn't want to sign up for the programs requiring deposits," says Halpern.
The study also found that participants of the deposit program were also five times more likely to quit smoking when compared to people who were given free smoking aids.
The researchers suggest that the study is quite significant as it may help insurers and employers to design a program taking into account human psychology. People are more likely to reduce loss than receive an incentive.
The study has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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