Partner-Involved Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation in Dual-Smoker Couples: A Randomized Pilot Trial

Abstract

Introduction Members of dual-smoker couples (in which both partners smoke) are unlikely to try to quit smoking and are likely to relapse if they do make an attempt. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility, tolerability, and preliminary outcomes of dyadic adaptations of financial incentive treatments to promote smoking cessation in dual-smoker couples. Methods We enrolled 95 dual-smoker couples (N=190) in a three-arm feasibility RCT comparing two partner-involved financial incentive treatments (single vs. dual incentives) against a no-treatment control condition. Participants in all conditions were offered nicotine replacement and psychoeducation. A three-month follow-up provided information about retention, tolerability (i.e., self-reported benefits and costs of the study), and preliminary efficacy (i.e., program completion, quit attempts, point-prevalent abstinence, joint quitting). Results Results suggest dyadic adaptations were feasible to implement (89% retention rate) and highly tolerable for participants (p’s < .001). Neither feasibility nor tolerability varied across treatment arm. Preliminary efficacy outcomes indicated partner-involved financial incentive treatments have promise for increasing smoking cessation in dual-smoker couples (OR range: 2.36-13.06). Conclusions Dyadic implementations of financial incentive treatments are feasible to implement and tolerable to participants. Implications The evidence that dyadic adaptations of financial incentive treatments were feasible and tolerable, and the positive preliminary efficacy outcomes suggest that adequately powered RCTs formally evaluating the efficacy of dyadic adaptations of financial incentive treatments for dual-smoker couples are warranted.