Financial Incentives for Homeless Smokers: A Community-based RCT

• Status: Suspended
• Trial end date: 2024-03-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

This community-based randomized controlled trial will test the effect of contingent financial rewards on smoking abstinence among homeless-experienced adult cigarette smokers. Participants will be recruited from 3 Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program locations: a shelter clinic, a day center clinic, and a medical center clinic. All participants will be offered a varenicline prescription and tobacco coaching. Incentive arm participants will receive escalating financial rewards for saliva cotinine levels <30 ng/ml, assessed 14 times over 24 weeks. Embedded qualitative interviews will explore the mechanisms of on-treatment and post-treatment effects of financial incentives on smoking abstinence in the context of homelessness.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
• Collaborators: National Cancer Institute (NCI); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Treatments: Nicotine; Varenicline

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥18 years old

• Lifetime smoker of ≥100 cigarettes with current daily smoking of ≥5 cigarettes per day, verified by a saliva cotinine level of ≥30 ng/mL

• Ready to try quitting smoking within the next 6 months

• Proficient in English

• Currently or formerly homeless

• Have a primary care provider within BHCHP system

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to provide informed consent

• History of allergic reaction to varenicline

• Currently pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding

• Lifetime history of suicide attempt or past-month suicidal ideation with plan or intent

• Psychiatric hospitalization in the past 3 months