Our framework should help research ers and policy-makers identify the most effective incentive configurations for helping individuals adopt healthy behaviours
Financial incentive interventions are increasingly used as a method of encouraging healthy behaviours , from attending for vaccinations to taking part in regular physical activity .
There is a growing body of research on the effectiveness of financial incentive interventions for health behaviours .
Wide variations in the nature of these interventions make it difficult to draw firm conclusions about what makes an effective incentive , for whom and under what circumstances .
Whilst there has been some recognition of the theoretical complexity of financial incentive interventions for health behaviours , there is no framework that categorises these interventions .
This limits the research community 's ability to clearly establish which components of financial incentives interventions are more and less effective , and how these components might interact to enable behavioural change .
We propose a framework for describing health-promoting financial incentive interventions .
Cost-effective primary care-based strategies to improve smoking cessation: more value for money.
BACKGROUND Evidence from cost-effective smoking cessation programs is scarce . This study determined the cost-effectiveness of 3 smoking cessation strategies as provided by general practitioners ( GPs ) in Germany . METHODS In a cluster-r and omized smoking cessation trial , rates and intervention costs for 577 smoking patients of 82 GPs were followed up for 12 months . Three smoking cessation treatments were tested : ( 1 ) GP training plus GP remuneration for each abstinent patient , ( 2 ) GP training plus cost-free nicotine replacement medication and /or bupropion hydrochloride for the patient , and ( 3 ) a combination of both strategies .  Smoking abstinence at 12 months was the primary outcome used to calculate incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and net monetary benefits . RESULTS Intervention 1 was not effective compared with treatment as usual ( TAU ) . Interventions 2 and 3 each proved to be cost-effective compared separately with TAU . When applying a 95 % level of certainty of cost-effectiveness against TAU , euro 9.80 or euro 6.96 , respectively , had to be paid for each additional 1 % of patients abstinent at 12 months ( maximum willingness to pay ) . That means that in intervention 2 , euro 92.12 per patient in the program must be invested to gain 1 additional quitter ( as opposed to euro 39.10 paid per patient during the trial ) . In intervention 2 , the cost was euro 82.82 , as opposed to euro 50.04 . Neither of these 2 cost-effective treatments proved to be superior to the other . The cost-effectiveness of both treatments was stable against TAU in sensitivity analyses . ( The exchange rate from October 1 , 2003 , was used ; euro1 = $ 1.17 . ) CONCLUSIONS Both treatments have a high potential to reduce smoking-related morbidity at a low cost . It is highly recommended that they be implemented as a routine service offered by GPs because in many countries , health insurance plans currently do not fund nicotine replacement therapy
Our framework should help research ers and policy-makers identify the most effective incentive configurations for helping individuals adopt healthy behaviours
Financial incentive interventions are increasingly used as a method of encouraging healthy behaviours , from attending for vaccinations to taking part in regular physical activity .
There is a growing body of research on the effectiveness of financial incentive interventions for health behaviours .
Wide variations in the nature of these interventions make it difficult to draw firm conclusions about what makes an effective incentive , for whom and under what circumstances .
Whilst there has been some recognition of the theoretical complexity of financial incentive interventions for health behaviours , there is no framework that categorises these interventions .
This limits the research community 's ability to clearly establish which components of financial incentives interventions are more and less effective , and how these components might interact to enable behavioural change .
We propose a framework for describing health-promoting financial incentive interventions .