Abstract
The application of financial incentives has proved to be a gainful treatment for cigarette smoking, yet the cost of delivering financial incentives has been a barrier to its widespread implementation. The goal of the present study is to test this treatment (with counseling) in a brief 3-week format, thereby reducing the cost. Results indicated that for one participant incentives were effective at promoting long-term abstinence from cigarette smoking. Though more research is needed, this treatment appears to be effective and can be delivered at a relatively low cost.
• Financial incentives can be utilized to promote abstinence from cigarette smoking.
• Regular monitoring of biomarkers of cigarette smoking is required in this treatment.
• One low-cost feature of this treatment is that a participant that does not abstain from smoking does not receive incentives, as was the case for one participant in this study.
• Abstinence is achieved through a combination of skill-training and reinforcing the absence cigarette smoking (differential reinforcement of other behavior; DRO).
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Redner, R., Robertson, N. & Lo, S. Application of a Brief Incentive Treatment for Cigarette Smoking. Behav Analysis Practice 11, 154–159 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-0240-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-0240-1