QuitBet Phase II: A Digital Social Game That Pays You to Stop Smoking

Summary

This study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of QuitBet, a digital contingency management program for smoking cessation. QuitBet combines social gaming elements with participant-funded financial incentives in the form of a deposit contract. QuitBet "players" deposit (called the "bet") a specified amount of their own money into the game's "pot." All "winners" who achieve the game's goal split the pot equally, such that their bet is fully refunded plus they receive extra money from the forfeited bets of players who did not meet the goal. Participants (N = 550) will be randomly assigned to QuitBet or QuitBet-NS (deposit contract only, no social elements). All participants will be offered a second game after their first game (up to 8 weeks total game duration) and will be asked to complete a survey after each game and at 1 and 4 months after the end of the second game (3 and 6 months after the start of their first game). The study will compare QuitBet vs. QuitBet-NS on smoking behavior outcomes and examine potential mediators of outcomes such as motivation, engagement, and satisfaction.

Conditions

• Smoking Cessation

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

contingency management (deposit contract)

Participants will deposit $30 of their own money to play QuitBet. Participants will submit a CO test once per day between the hours of noon and 11:59pm. Participants whose CO test is 6ppm or lower (indicating no smoking) on at least 24 of 26 days between day 3-28 of the game will be declared winners and split the pot of deposited money. Participants who submit at least 21 CO tests, regardless of the result, will be entered into a raffle to win a prize worth $75.

BEHAVIORAL

leaderboard and social feed

Participants will have access to a discussion board on which participants can post and respond to messages to each other. Also, a game host will post educational information about smoking cessation and serve as a discussion moderator.

BEHAVIORAL

smoking cessation resource list

Participants will have access to a list of smoking cessation resources

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• WayBetter, Inc.

  lead INDUSTRY

Principal Investigators

• Jamie Rosen · WayBetter, Inc.

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-11-01

Primary Completion

2024-07-27

Completion

2024-07-27

Countries

• United States

Study Locations