Expectant Mothers Give Up Smoking

Love2shop- The high street gift voucher, is the reward chosen by Yorkshire and Humber Primary Care Trust, for its innovative SOS Scheme. Launched in April 2009 the remit of the Significant Others Supporter Scheme is to help pregnant women stay smoke-free throughout and beyond their pregnancy. "Our target audience is pregnant smokers who have already stopped smoking with their NHS Stop Smoking Service and are either living with a smoker and/or living in a chaotic environment," comments Patricia Hodgson, Regional Tobacco Policy Manager. "Heightened social support combined with financial reward has been found to be effective in preventing relapse, hence the introduction of SOS."

As part of the scheme each woman signs an agreement to ask a non-smoking friend or relative to provide relapse prevention support, and attends monthly support sessions during the pregnancy to take a carbon monoxide test. Pregnant clients meeting the criteria receive a £20 Love2shop gift voucher at the four week quit date and then monthly during the pregnancy and two months beyond the birth of the baby. The supporter is also eligible for £40 worth.

It was crucial that the reward should really motivate the recipient, so the team at the PCT organised qualitative research amongst a focus group to identify the most appropriate. "People love the selection of high street stores on the gift voucher there's something for everyone whether they wish to save and spend on a bigger ticket item such as a push-chair, or treat themselves with clothes the choice is theirs. Plus we have a number of mothers-to-be who live in fairly isolated places so access to a multitude of different stores was important. But the icing on the cake, as far as we were concerned, was the fact that Love2reward were able to personalise and print wallets in which to present each voucher. Not only does the wallet complete the presentation pack, but it also reiterates the message around stopping smoking during pregnancy .'staying healthy for you, your baby and your family' - it's a very significant part of the overall package," Pat concludes.

Feedback from the scheme has so far been very positive with a very high percentage of women remaining smoke-free, which is excellent news as it has been estimated that for every pound spent helping a pregnant woman to stop smoking saves the NHS up to £4.

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