Adapting a Financial Incentives Intervention for Smoking Cessation With Alaska Native Families: Phase 1 Qualitative...

Alaska Native and American Indian (ANAI) peoples in Alaska currently experience a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality from tobacco cigarette use. Financial incentives for smoking cessation are evidence-based, but a family-level incentive structure has not been evaluated. We used a community-based participatory research and qualitative approach to culturally adapt a smoking cessation intervention with ANAI families.

We conducted individual, semistructured telephone interviews with 12 ANAI adults who smoke, 12 adult family members, and 13 Alaska Tribal Health System stakeholders statewide between November 2022 and March 2023. Through content analysis, we explored intervention receptivity, incentive preferences, culturally aligned recruitment and intervention messaging, and future implementation needs.

Participants were receptive to the intervention. Involving a family member was viewed as novel and aligned with ANAI cultural values of commitment to community and familial interdependence. Major themes included choosing a family member who is supportive and understanding, keeping materials positive and encouraging, and offering cash and noncash incentives for family members to choose (eg, fuel, groceries, activities). Participants indicated that messaging should emphasize family collaboration and that cessation resources and support tips should be provided. Stakeholders also reinforced that program materials should encourage the use of other existing evidence-based cessation therapies (eg, nicotine replacement, counseling).

Adaptations, grounded in ANAI cultural strengths, were made to the intervention and recruitment materials based on participant feedback. Next steps include a beta-test for feasibility and a randomized controlled trial for efficacy.

This is the first study to design and adapt a financial incentives intervention promoting smoking cessation among ANAI peoples and the first to involve the family system. Feedback from this formative work was used to develop a meaningful family-level incentive structure with ANAI people who smoke and family members and ensure intervention messaging is supportive and culturally aligned. The results provide qualitative knowledge that can inform future family-based interventions with ANAI communities, including our planned randomized controlled trial of the intervention.