This study investigated if a Quit and Win competition, WERO (WERO in Māori language means challenge), would be effective in prompting quitting and increasing abstinence from smoking amongst Māori and New Zealand resident Pacific Island smokers. WERO has been designed to use both within team support, external support from a team coach and cessation experts, and technology. Fourteen teams with 10 contestants and one team with 8 contestants were recruited from urban Māori, rural Māori and urban Pacific communities. The teams competed against each other over a 3-month period (31 May to 30 August 2012) to win a NZ$5000 prize for a charity or community group of their choice. Eligible contestants were aged ≥18 years, identifying as smokers. At the end of the competition the biochemically-verified quit rate was 36%. The 6 months self-reported quit rate was 26%. The Pacific and rural Māori teams had high end-of-competition and 6 months’ follow-up quit rates (46% and 44%, and 36% and 29%, respectively). The study authors emphasise that if New Zealand is to reach its smokefree nation goal by 2025, innovative tobacco control strategies are needed that can rapidly reduce smoking prevalence within existing health budgets. They suggest that groups-based quit competitions such as WERO offer one such solution.
