[Opinions of the participants of 'Quit and Win' competition concerning prizes motivating to refrain from smoking].

Big antinicotine campaigns both in Poland and worldwide, are finished with a competition with prizes of different value. Psychologists say that a prize significantly motivates a person to certain kinds of behaviour. During educational activities carried out in the time of campaign, it is recommended to use techniques of psychological interaction that would release motives most beneficial to health. The aim of the work was to recognize frequency of being influenced mostly by the possibility of winning a prize before making a decision about quitting smoking and joining the competition, and learning the opinions of prize laureates concerning efficiency of 'Quit and Win' competitions. Empirical material comes from two sources. The first one is the selected fragments of a survey study carried out at Social and Preventive Medicine Department among 1700 participants of 'Quit and Win' competition that finished the 2nd International Antinicotine Campaign in Poland. The correctly filled survey was sent by 1285 people, that is 75.6%. The second source is a fragment of a survey study carried out in 2003 among 54 laureates of 'Quit and Win' competition in Poland. The completed survey was sent by majority of the laureates, that is 34 people (f = 0.63). Possibility of winning a prize as the most important reason for taking up the attempt to stop smoking and joining the competition was pointed to by 56 respondents (4.4%), whereas the remaining people chose other reasons as the most important ones. In the group of 34 respondents who were the laureates of competitions, majority, that is 22 people (f = 0.65) claimed the competition with prizes as a very effective method of reducing smoking. Half of the surveyed (17 people) claimed the possibility of winning a few prizes of high value would be more motivating than winning one of many prizes of smaller value. As the least attractive, prize gifts were pointed to. A prize in the form of a trip or holiday was considered very popular, as much as money prize. A chance to win a prize was considered the most important motive in undertaking the attempt to refrain from smoking by a small number of participants of 'Quit and Win' competition. In the opinion of majority of the respondents who were laureates of competitions as chosen at random, competitions with prizes organized at the end of campaigns are an effective method of antinicotine prevention.