Financial versus health motivation to quit smoking: a randomized field study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Smoking is the most preventable cause of death, thus justifying efforts to effectively motivate quitting. We compared the effectiveness of financial versus health messages to motivate smoking cessation. Low-income individuals disproportionately smoke and, given their greater income constraints, we hypothesized that making financial costs of smoking more salient would encourage more smokers to try quitting. Further, we predicted that financial messages would be stronger in financial settings where pecuniary constraints are most salient.

Methods

We conducted a field study in low-income areas of New Haven, Connecticut using brochures with separate health vs. financial messages to motivate smoking cessation. Displays were rotated among community settings-check-cashing,

SUBMITTER: Sindelar JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4869074 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature