Paying women to quit smoking during pregnancy? Acceptability among pregnant women

There is growing international interest in the use of financial incentives in smoking cessation, yet little research on public opinion of the scheme. This paper reports on the acceptability of incentives for reducing smoking in pregnant women and the perceived size of incentive that would encourage smoking cessation during pregnancy.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 213 women attending the antenatal clinic of a large public hospital in Australia. Participants completed a questionnaire on their views on the use of incentives with responses measured on a 5-point Likert scale.

The majority of participants (60%) did not agree that paying pregnant smokers to quit is a good idea. Opinions regarding the likely effectiveness were mixed with 30% of respondents in agreement and 22% undecided. Most (62%) were not willing to pay smokers any amount to quit. Smokers were more likely to have more favorable views about incentives than nonsmokers (p < .0001) and considered payments of between $100 and >$1,000 acceptable as reward for quitting smoking.

Acceptability for the use of financial incentives in reducing antenatal smoking is low among pregnant women. Future research should explore views of a wider audience and continue to gather stronger evidence of the efficacy of rewards for reducing smoking in pregnancy.