Pregnant women offered £400 to give up smoking

Mothers in Scotland's biggest city are being offered £400 to quit smoking during pregnancy.  The Glasgow trial scheme aims to find out whether financial incentives, such as the £50 in-store vouchers that will be offered, can help more women kick the habit.  Participants will receive the first voucher when they book their first face-to-face appointment with an NHS smoking cessation advisor and set a date to stop.  If they remain smokefree for four weeks, with tests being carried out on their breath for signs of carbon monoxide contained in cigarette smoke, they will receive a further £50 of vouchers, rising to £100 at 12 weeks.  They will get £200 worth of vouchers if they reach either months, when they will be asked to submit saliva and urine samples to prove there is no trace of cigarettes in their system. 

Glasgow has the highest rates of smoking during pregnancy in  Scotland, with one in every four lighting up

The trial has recruited 64 pregnant women from within the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde region since the end of December and aims to recruit a total of 600 by the end of the year, with all expectant mothers using the health board's Smoke-Free service automatically invited to take part.  The study will be split equally between women receiving the financial incentives to stop and a control group receiving normal smoking cessation support plus a £25 bonus at the end.

The trial is spearheaded by Professor Linda Bauld, of Stirling University, and Professor David Tappin, of Glasgow University, on behalf of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies.

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Helen McArdle
The Herald (Glasgow) Thursday 23, February 2012

Full information about the study can be found on our page