Pilot Randomized Control Trial of Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation

If participants quit smoking by their target quit date, and that is confirmed by cotinine/anabasine tests, they will receive a monetary award from the study investigators.

Participants will have to deposit a certain monetary amount of their own money as an incentive to quit smoking. If they quit smoking by their target quit date, and that is confirmed by cotinine/anabasine tests, participants will receive their deposit back. If participants do not quit, their money will be used to support future research studies designed to help people stop smoking.

Participants will choose their deposit amount (XX = chosen deposit); this same amount will be returned upon success (that is, quit smoking by the target quit date, and having this confirmed by cotinine/anabasine tests). If participants do not quit, their money will be used to support future research studies designed to help people stop smoking. The default deposit will be set to a certain monetary amount for consistency with other arms, and participants can increase or decrease this amount until they reach the amount they want to deposit.

"Groups (or cohorts) of 6 smokers each will be formed on a rolling basis, linking individuals with target quit dates (day 0's) near each other. Participants will deposit a certain monetary amount (Y) in an account, and the payout for quitting on this arm will be Y x 6/Q , where Q is the number of quits in the cohort. Again, success will be confirmed by cotinine or anabasine tests, and if participants do not quit, their money will be used to support future research studies designed to help people stop smoking."

Participants will receive reimbursements for completing the surveys that are part of the Way To Quit program and for submitting saliva or urine samples at 14 days and 3 months (among those eligible).