Jarvis BP, Dallery J. (2017). Internet-based self-tailored deposit contracts to promote smoking reduction and abstinence. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 9999: 1-17. doi: 10.1002/jaba.377
Researchers used advertisements to recruit 19 smokers planning to quit smoking for two experiments evaluating an online deposit contract intervention. Participants in both experiments made monetary deposits that they could earn back for reaching goals for levels of carbon monoxide (CO) in their breath. In the first experiment, participants (n=9) could earn back their deposits and in the second experiment, participants (n=10) could earn back their deposits and the study matched earned deposits up to $50. Participants received a CO meter and were asked to submit two videos of CO sample submission per day. Participants were given goals for a four-day reduction period based on their baseline smoking levels and a standard abstinence goal. Participants completed assessments of the acceptability of the program. Participants in Experiment 1 deposited $82.22 on average, met their goals 64% of the time, and reduced CO levels from baseline by 45.1% during the reduction phase and 58.4% during the abstinence phase. Participants in Experiment 2 deposited $49.00 on average, met their goals 67.3% of the time, and reduced their CO levels from baseline by 41.2% during the reduction phase and 41.6% during the abstaining phase. Deposits above the median were associated with higher rates and duration of abstinence in Experiment 1, but not Experiment 2. Participants during both experiments reported that they liked the intervention, but the intervention was too short and could be improved by using a mobile platform.