Smoke-free School Policy and Teachers' Behavior and Attitude towards Smoking

- A Comparative Study

Abstract

Abstract
[Background] The effects of the enforcement of a total smoke-free school policy on teachers' behavior or attitude towards tobacco have been discussed in a limited and insufficient manner. In an attempt to alleviate the lack of research in this area, the present study evaluated differences in behavior and attitude towards smoking between teachers working at totally smoke-free schools (Group 1) and teachers working at schools without any regulations regarding tobacco use (Group 2).
[Methods] A self-reported questionnaire was sent to all public school teachers in Nara City (n=1748) in January 2007. Experiences with secondhand smoke in school during1 the past month, smoking status, tobacco consumption per day, experience with smoking prevention instruction, and attitude towards a smoke-free school were surveyed and chi-square tests were performed to evaluate the contribution of a total smoke-free school policy to the responses to these items.
[Results] Sixty-nine of 70 schools cooperated with the survey and a total of 1403 teachers were enrolled in the study. The number of participants in Group 1 and Group 2 were 168 and 1235, respectively, In Group 1,3.6% of respondents experienced secondhand smoke in school, compared with 37.9% in Group 2 (p＜0.001). Smoking status of the participants was significantly associated with the presence of a total smoke-free policy (Group 1: Never- 71.4%, Ex- 21.4%, Current- 7.1%; Group 2: Never-71.4%, Ex-15.6%, Current-13.0%). In Group 1,60.9% of respondents had presented smoking1 prevention instructions, compared with 51.3% in Group 2 (p=0.022). Group 1 tended to have a positive attitude towards a smoke-free school compared with attitudes expressed in Group 2, regardless of their smoking status (Nonsmokers: p＜0.001, Smokers: p =0.011).
[Conclusion] The enforcement of a smoke-free school policy appears to contribute to a reduction in passive and active smoking rates among teachers and encourages them to provide smoking prevention instructions. In addition, after the regulations are introduced, even those who continue to smoke tobacco may accept a smoke-free workplace