Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and premature mortality in Ireland. Widening socioeconomic differences in smoking drive health inequalities. Addressing this priority requires closing the implementation gap between research evidence and practice regarding effective stop smoking interventions. There is high‐certainty evidence that financial incentives to stop smoking (FISS) increase long‐term quit rates. Recent National Stop Smoking Guidelines noted FISS as a promising intervention, but identified Irish research was required to inform implementation, as implementation approaches are heterogeneous and implementation success is mediated by context. Through recent collaboration with the current investigative team, the health service is exploring FISS to increase use and effectiveness of stop smoking services in ‘Slaintecare’ Healthy Community Programme Areas. However, it is still unclear how FISS could be implemented nationally and a need for effective research methods to design how FISS is delivered in partnership with local communities emerged as a priority from initial public and patient involvement (PPI) discussions. We therefore aim to co-design and test the feasibility and acceptability of a theoretically-informed FISS implementation strategy that can be rolled-out nationally, using three interrelated work packages (WPs):
WP1: Planning and co-design of FISS
A co-design study conducted with stakeholders, including a rapid review of implementation issues in financial incentive for health behaviour change internationally, will identify barriers/facilitators and optimise design of the pilot FISS programme for local implementation.
WP2: Testing FISS implementation strategy
A mixed methods evaluation of FISS implementation will be conducted, including a survey and qualitative interview study of stakeholders, and auditing of administrative data, focusing on implementation outcomes and costs. WP3: Producing an implementation toolkit for FISS
Based on the evaluation and further PPI/stakeholder input, a collaborative, theory-informed implementation toolkit for FISS optimisation and scale-up will be developed.
Results will inform improved stop smoking services, ultimately reducing smoking-related inequalities.
