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Study: Financial Incentives Help Smokers Quit

CAMBRIDGE, Ma. (CBS) – Are you trying to get a loved one to stop smoking? According to a new study, try paying them!

The report, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, investigated whether financial incentives played a significant role in helping smokers quit.

Researchers used a "deposit program," in which the smokers would put down $150, but they would get it back if they quit, along with an additional $650.

The second option was a "rewards program," in which participants would receive $800 if they stopped smoking.

Which program was more effective?

Researchers say, "Both the deposit program and the reward program had significant effects, in the form of higher abstinence rates through six months."

However, the study found the deposit program, though less attractive, was much more effective.

Researchers say, "Only 13.7 percent of the participants assigned to the deposit program chose to enroll in it, whereas 90 percent of those assigned to the reward program chose to enroll. By contrast, 52.3 percent of those enrolled in the deposit program had sustained abstinence for six months, as compared with just 17.1 percent of those enrolled in the reward program."

To read the full study, click here

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