CAN A CONTEST ENCOURAGE SMOKERS FROM LOW- INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS TO STOP SMOKING FOR 6 WEEKS

A contest to encourage smokers to quite and to remain nonsmokers for a t least six weeks was held in a low income neighbourhood in Montreal. The contest was one of many activities for a multifactorial community- based heart health promotion program. The objective of this article is to describe the intervention and its evaluation and to reflect on its relative successes. Thirty-one persons registered for the contest, se ven stopped smoking during the six-week contest, and six persons remai ned abstinent two weeks after the end of it. Concrete recommendations regarding the contest and implementation of a smoking cessation progra m are discussed.