Behavioral policies and inequities: the case of incentivized smoking cessation policies

Figures & data

Table 1 The characterization of the specialized literature evaluating incentivized smoking cessation policies: a plurality of evaluative and methodological perspectives.

Type of Researchers	Representative Researcher	Primary Evaluative Goal	Evidence-Gathering Methods	References
Decision-Makers	National Health Services (NHS) in the UK	Specify evidence required for policy making (e.g. ISCP’s effect on health inequities)		CSDH (2008), Petticrew (2004), Department of Health (2011)
The Proponents of Behavioral Policies	Behavioral Insights Team in the UK	Defend behavioral policies such as ISCP based on evidence and propose new tokens of behavioral policies	Behavioral economic theory, experimental evidence, RCTs	Haynes et al. (2012), Dolan et al. (2010)
Evidence-based Policy Specialists	(a) RCT specialist Policy Evaluators (e.g. Kevin Volpp, Scott Halpern) (b) Public Health Evaluators (e.g. Jean Adams, Heather Morgan, Gill Thomson NICE in the UK, Higgins)	Measure the ISCP’s (and similar Incentivized policies’) impacts such as effectiveness, persistence, cost-effectiveness, unintended consequences, effects on specific populations	RCTs Observational Methods, Systematic Reviews, Mix-methods	Halpern et al. (2015), Volpp et al. (2009), Morgan et al. (2015), Higgins and Solomon (2016)
Behavioral Economists	George Loewenstein, Paul Slovic	Pursuing empirical and theoretical knowledge about the psycho-cognitive factors that determine the differential effects of incentives and information across different types of smokers.	Theory, lab and field experiments (methodologically individualist orientation).
Social Epidemiologists	Micheal Kelly Hilary Graham Jennie Popay Stanley Blue	Empirical and theoretical knowledge about the structural factors that determine various aspects of smoking behavior, the health inequalities and differential effects of public health policies.	Theory, observational methods including econometrics descriptive statistics and qualitative methods (with a holistic methodological orientation)	Kelly (2010), Graham (2011), Popay (2008), Blue et al. (2016)
Systematic Reviewers	Cochrane Collaboration, Campell Collaboration, Kings’s Fund	(i) Review, rate, and report available evidence on various impacts of ISCP; (ii) inform the design of new evidence-based policy analysis (e.g. by generating new hypothesis, defining gaps in evidence)	All of above and methods of structured review	Cahill and Perera (2011, 2015), Jochelson (2007)

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Petticrew, M. (2004). Evidence for public health policy on inequalities: 1: The reality according to policymakers. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 58(10), 811–816. doi: 10.1136/jech.2003.015289

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Department of Health UK. (2011). Healthy lives healthy people: Tobacco control plan for England. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213757/dh_124960.pdf

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Haynes, L., Goldacre, B., & Torgerson, D. (2012). Test, learn, adapt: developing public policy with randomised controlled trials. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/62529/TLA-1906126.pdf

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Dolan, P., Hallsworth, M., Halpern, D., King, D., & Vlaev, I. (2010). MINDSPACE: influencing behavior for public policy: Institute of Government. http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/MINDSPACE.pdf

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Halpern, S. D., French, B., Small, D. S., Saulsgiver, K., Harhay, M. O., Audrain-McGovern, J., … Volpp, K. G. (2015). Randomized trial of four financial-incentive programs for smoking cessation. N. Engl. J. Med, 372, 2108–2117.

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Volpp, K. G., Troxel, A. B., Pauly, M. V., Glick, H. A., Puig, A., & Asch, D. A. (2009). A randomized controlled trial of financial incentives for smoking cessation. New England Journal of Medicine, 360, 699–709.

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Morgan, H., Hoddinott, P., Thomson, G., Crossland, N., Farrar, S., Yi, D., … Hislop, J. (2015). Benefits of incentives for breastfeeding and smoking cessation in pregnancy (BIBS): a mixed-methods study to inform trial design. Health Technology Assessment, 19(30), 1–522.

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Higgins, S. T., & Solomon, L. J. (2016). Some recent developments on financial incentives for smoking cessation among pregnant and newly postpartum women. Current Addiction Reports, 3(1), 9–18.

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Kelly, M. P. (2010). The axes of social differentiation and the evidence base on health equity. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 103(7), 266–272. doi: 10.1258/jrsm.2010.100005

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Graham, H. (2011). Understanding health inequalities. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

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Popay, J. (2008). Should disadvantaged people be paid to take care of their health? No. British Medical Journal, 337(Jul08 3), a594. doi: 10.1136/bmj.a594

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Blue, S., Shove, E., Carmona, C., & Kelly, M. P. (2016). Theories of practice and public health: Understanding (un)healthy practices. Critical Public Health, 26(1), 36–50. doi: 10.1080/09581596.2014.980396

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Cahill, K., & Perera, R. (2011). Competitions and incentives for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (4), Art. No.: CD004307. doi: 004310.001002/14651858.CD14004307.pub14651854

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Cahill, K., Hartmann-Boyce, J., & Perera, R. (2015). Incentives for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (5), Art. No.: CD004307.

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Jochelson, K. (2007). Paying the patient: improving health using financial incentives. King’s Fund. Retrieved from www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/BCC2F5C3-B685-4FF1AE7739C52F4ED247/0/payingthepatient.pdf

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