Chapter 10 338 Abstract Background Smoking is the primary preventable risk factor for disease and premature mortality. It is highly addictive and cessation attempts are often unsuccessful. Incentive-based programmes may be an effective method to reach sustained abstinence. Individualisation of incentives based on personal characteristics yields potential to further increase effectiveness of incentive-based programmes. Method A randomised controlled trial among health care workers, recruited through their employer and signed up for a group-based smoking cessation programme. The intervention under study is the provision of personalised incentives upon validated smoking cessation at several time points after the smoking-cessation programme. A total of 220 participants is required. Participants are randomised 1:1 into intervention (personalised incentives) or control (no incentives). All participants join the groupbased programme. Incentives are provided upon validated abstinence directly after the smoking cessation programme and after three, six and twelve months. Incentives are provided according to four schemes: (1) Standard: total reward size €350, pay-out scheme: €50, €50, €50 and €200, (2) Descending: total reward size €300, pay-out scheme: €150, €100, €50 and €0, (3) Ascending: total reward size: €400, pay-out scheme: €0, €0, €50, €350, and (4) Deposit: total reward size €450, pay-out scheme: €50, €50, €150, €200; participants pay a €100 deposit, returned conditional on abstinence after six months. Advice on which incentive scheme suits participants best is based on readiness to quit, nicotine dependency and long or short-term reward preference. Participants are free to deviate from this advice. Abstinence is validated at each time point, with 15-month total follow-up. The primary end-point is validated abstinence at twelve months. Effectiveness will be determined by intention-to-treat analysis. Ethics and dissemination The Erasmus MC Medical Ethics Committee decided that according to the Dutch Human Research Law (WMO) the protocol required no formal ethical approval. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Trial registration: Netherlands Trial Register NL7711
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