Promoting smoke-free psychiatric hospitals prior to the amended Health Promotion Act

–How did the amended Health Promotion Act change smoking measures in psychiatric hospitals?–

Abstract

Purpose: To promote smoke-free psychiatric hospitals by training specialists in tobacco addiction treatment and providing information ahead of the amended Health Promotion Act.
Method: In 2019, seminars were held at seven locations nationwide. These consisted of lectures on smoking cessation treatments and “motivational interviewing” workshops. Information, specifically concerning the promotion of a smoke-free environment, for domestic psychiatric hospitals was provided.
Results: There were 605 seminar participants. A questionnaire prior to the smoke-free promotion project was administered to the directors of 1250 Japanese psychiatric hospitals in August 2018. In February 2020, after the project, further questionnaires were sent out to 1239 of these directors. In 2018, 34.4% (n = 403) of the hospital directors responded to the first questionnaire. In 2020, 30.4% (n = 377) responded to the second questionnaire. As per the questionnaires, it was discovered that the hospital-wide smoking bans significantly increased from 33.0% in 2018 to 69.0% in 2020 (p < 0.001). The number of smoking cessation outpatient services covered by health insurance increased from 42 in 2018 to 54 in 2020.
Discussion: Many of the psychiatric hospitals in which it was considered difficult to ban smoking were able to achieve it without major problems after the amended Health Promotion Act.
Conclusion: It is necessary to increase the number of non-smoking outpatients at psychiatric hospitals in situations wherein smoking cessation is under progress on the premises, and this project was useful for promoting the understanding of the parties concerned.