During the study, employees from thirteen organisations committed themselves in advance to their goal: to quit smoking. All participants followed a proven group training programme with their colleagues to quit smoking. Some of the participants also took part in a specially designed lottery for thirteen weeks, with a winner being drawn each week. The winners were told they had won, but only received their prize if they had not smoked that week. After six months, there was a larger draw in which participants had the chance to win 400 euros. Again, the prize only went to winners who had quit permanently.
Capitalising on feelings of regret
The experiment played on feelings of regret: the participants' fear that they would miss out on the prize if they started smoking again. The winners of the lotteries, which were drawn by an independent notary, were always announced within the group. If these winners had not achieved their goal, they were told that they had won the prize but had missed out because they had smoked.
The effectiveness of playing on feelings of regret had already been demonstrated in earlier research into exercising at work. The results of this new experiment underline that mechanism. After three months, 68 per cent of the participants in the lottery group were smoke-free, compared to 36 per cent in the control group without the lottery. After six months, the figures were 55 per cent versus 25 per cent, and after a year, 43 per cent versus 24 per cent. “We see that some of the smokers relapse over time,” says researcher Koen van der Swaluw of Radboud University, “but the difference between the groups is so great that we would like to conduct follow-up research on this.”
Affordable support
According to the researchers, the lotteries do not serve as a reward, but as support during the difficult process of quitting smoking. Van der Swaluw: “Most smokers do not want to smoke. The prospect of a tangible, direct consequence, in this case the chance of winning a prize, helps to make the long-term health benefits more tangible and concrete.”
The approach also appears to be affordable. It is noteworthy that in this study, the participating employers covered all lottery costs, which were low. The weekly costs of the lotteries for employers averaged only €4.50 per participant during the intervention period. Van der Swaluw: “Interventions like this can make a very concrete contribution to a healthier, smoke-free workplace. With a little support, a Smoke-Free Lottery can make a big difference.”