INCENTIVES TO RECRUIT TEENS FOR SMOKING CESSATION

描述（申请人的描述）尽管表面上水平很高 青少年对不吸烟的兴趣——三分之二或更多的青少年 吸烟者想要戒烟，超过一半的人尝试过戒烟，近乎 四分之三的人表示戒烟有困难——有效吸烟 青少年的戒烟策略尚未确定。 而且， 对于招募青少年吸烟者的有效策略知之甚少 戒烟计划。 显然，任何青少年吸烟的成功 戒烟计划是这两个因素的函数。 一种方法 加强招募吸烟者，但这一措施尚未在 青少年人口，是利用直接激励措施。 我们建议进行一项随机对照试验来评估 招募青少年参加创新型项目的直接激励措施的有效性 预防/戒烟计划。 使用来自的会员列表 明尼苏达州的大型健康维护组织，我们将随机分配 4000 名青少年的四个招募条件之一： 1） 代币，预付费 现金奖励，随调查附上，2) 较大的现金 奖励，取决于完成的调查的返回，3) 进入 返回完成的调查后即可抽取大笔现金奖励，或 4) 否 激励。 我们将评估：1）激励措施的使用是否会 显着提高总体有效率，2）是否青春期 吸烟者的反应比例更大，具体取决于吸烟的类型 他们收到的激励，以及 3) 是否收到激励的类型 影响吸烟者与卫生专业人员联系的意愿 作为戒烟干预的一部分。 我们还将确定哪些 策略（如果有的话）是最具成本效益的。 我们预计，更多地了解需要什么来鼓励 青少年吸烟者参与此类计划最终可能会导致 如果可以招募更多青少年吸烟者，戒烟率就会更高 接受戒烟干预。

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Description) Despite an apparently high level of interest among adolescents in not smoking--two thirds or more of adolescent smokers would like to quit, more than half have attempted to quit and nearly three quarters report difficulty quitting cigarettes--effective smoking cessation strategies among adolescents have not been identified. Moreover, little is known about effective strategies to recruit adolescent smokers to cessation programs. Clearly, the success of any adolescent smoking cessation program is a function of both of these factors. One approach to enhancing recruitment of smokers, which has not been applied in the adolescent population, is the use of direct incentives. We propose to conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of direct incentives to recruit adolescents to an innovative smoking prevention/cessation program. Using the membership listing from a large health maintenance organization in Minnesota, we will randomly assign 4000 adolescents to one of four recruitment conditions: 1) a token, prepaid cash incentive, enclosed with the survey, 2) a somewhat larger cash incentive, contingent on return of a completed survey, 3) entry into a drawing for a large cash prize upon return of a completed survey, or 4) no incentive. We will assess: 1) whether the use of incentives will significantly improve the overall response rate, 2) whether adolescent smokers will respond in greater proportion depending upon the type of incentive they receive, and 3) whether the type of incentive received affects the willingness of smokers to be contacted by a health professional as part of the cessation intervention. We will also determine which strategy , if any, is the most cost-effective. We anticipate that learning more about what is needed to encourage adolescent smokers to participate in such programs could eventually result in higher quit rates if more adolescent smokers could be recruited and exposed to cessation interventions.