Internet‐based self‐tailored deposit contracts to promote smoking reduction and abstinence

Abstract

Deposit contracting may reduce costs and increase efficacy in contingency management interventions. We evaluated two Internet-based deposit contract arrangements for smoking. In Experiment 1, nine participants deposited self-selected amounts that could be earned back for meeting goals. During treatment, participants were reimbursed for breath samples with less than or equal to 6 parts per million carbon monoxide and met the criterion for 47% of samples compared to 1% during baseline. In Experiment 2, 10 participants’ deposits were matched up to $50. No samples met the criterion during baseline but 41.5% met it during treatment. The average deposit was $82 in Experiment 1 and $49 in Experiment 2. Participants rated the intervention favorably and sample submission rates were high. These experiments suggest that Internet-based self-tailored deposits are acceptable, feasible, and can promote brief reduction and abstinence in some smokers. Future research should investigate individual and intervention factors that affect long-term cessation and uptake of deposit contracts.

Nationwide access to an internet‐based contingency management intervention to promote smoking cessation: a randomized controlled trial

“…Indeed, lower‐cost monitors integrated with mobile phones have significant promise to deliver mCM. New applications of behavioral technologies might include group contingencies in which small teams of smokers must meet CO goals for incentives , or self‐tailored deposits in which the end‐user selects the amounts and timings of his or her deposits . Deposit contracts could be used as part of a lapse responsive method.…”

Technology‐based versus in‐person deposit contract treatments for promoting physical activity

“…The only method that has been evaluated for potentially increasing deposit contract appeal has been deposit matching, which involves the provision of monetary rewards in addition to deposit refunds (e.g., Jarvis & Dallery, 2017;John et al, 2011;Volpp et al, 2008;White et al, 2013). Although some researchers hypothesized that higher matching ratios would increase participant uptake (Halpern et al, 2012), extant data have not supported that prediction.…”

“…Interestingly, 16 of the participants (84%) chose text messaging as their preferred communication modality; only two chose email, and only one chose phone calls. In Jarvis and Dallery's (2017) Internetbased deposit contract smoking cessation study, participants submitted deposits electronically through PayPal ® , and acceptability measures were obtained posttreatment. Similar to other evaluations, there was no attrition, and posttreatment acceptability ratings were favorable.…”

“…Aside from acceptability considerations, it is unclear whether technology-based deposit contracts would be equally as effective without the inclusion of in-person procedures. To our knowledge, only three studies have evaluated fully remote technology-based deposit contract treatments (Dallery et al, 2017;Jarvis & Dallery, 2017;Leahey & Rosen, 2014), and additional research is needed.…”

Technology‐based contingency management and e‐cigarettes during the initial weeks of a smoking quit attempt

“…Second, we did not employ a shaping phase during which gradual reductions in smoking were reinforced. In our previous research, we arranged a 3‐4‐day phase in which reductions from baseline CO were reinforced, and by the end of the phase CO levels needed to indicate abstinence for reinforcement (Dallery et al, , ; Jarvis & Dallery, ). This procedure was included to increase the likelihood that behavior would contact the contingency.…”