Abstract
Background: Smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, accounting for more than 480,000 deaths annually. Despite the health concerns surrounding smoking, many smokers still find it hard to quit. Young adults were less likely than older adults to receive advice on smoking cessation and less likely to quit successfully. Most young adults do not desire smoking cessation unless financial incentives are offered to give the extra push needed to kick the habit. Objective: The purpose of this evidence-based practice project is to determine the effectiveness of financial motivation by utilizing the smoking cost calculator provided by TobaccoFreeFlorida on current smokers aged 25 to 44 to encourage smoking cessation from October 2022 to January 2023 at Millennium Physician Group Walk-in Clinic/Primary Care office in Bonita Springs. A pre-intervention survey was done for data collection using eight questions: age, gender, total years smoking, pack per day, quit attempts, previous quit methods, price per pack, and thoughts on money saved. The effectiveness of the smoking cost calculator was determined by doing a post-intervention survey by telephone 12 weeks after their visit using two questions: smoking cessation in the last 12 weeks (yes/no) and length of time since the last cigarette. Results: There were three eligible participants, two males and one female. Two participants (male and female) reported that they stopped smoking after learning how much money they could save. One male participant reported that they did not stop smoking, but he commented that he did reduce the amount smoked daily. During the implementation period, it was noted that more adults were vaping instead of smoking cigarettes which was not noted in the literature review. Conclusion: While there is literature evidence on financial motivation for smoking cessation, none was specific to utilizing the smoking cost calculator. There is a need for further research on the same topic with a longer implementation time. Utilizing the smoking cost calculator as a cost-effective intervention can potentially motivate young adults to quit smoking.