Prize contingency management for smoking cessation: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND

Adjunctive behavioral smoking cessation treatments have the potential to improve outcomes beyond standard care. The present study had two aims: (1) compare standard care (SC) for smoking (four weeks of brief counseling and monitoring) to SC plus prize-based contingency management (CM), involving the chance to earn prizes on days with demonstrated smoking abstinence (carbon monoxide (CO) ≤6 ppm); and (2) compare the relative efficacy of two prize reinforcement schedules-one a traditional CM schedule, and the second an early enhanced CM schedule providing greater reinforcement magnitude in the initial week of treatment but equal overall reinforcement.

METHODS

Participants (N=81 nicotine-dependent cigarette smokers) were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions.

RESULTS

Prize CM resulted in significant reductions in cigarette smoking relative to SC. These reductions were not apparent at follow-up. We found no meaningful differences between the traditional and enhanced CM conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings reveal that prize CM leads to significant reductions in smoking during treatment relative to a control intervention, but the benefits did not extend long-term.