Intervention and policy issues related to children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
BACKGROUND
Children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is unacceptably high; almost 40% of children in the United States are regularly exposed to ETS.


METHODS
This paper presents a review of the literature that evaluates interventions designed to reduce ETS exposure among young children. In addition, it presents the study design for Project KISS (Keeping Infants Safe from Smoke), an intervention designed to utilize exposure-related feedback to increase parents' motivation for ETS reduction and to reduce household ETS levels. Baseline data are presented to illustrate factors that should be addressed in ETS interventions.


RESULTS
The literature review demonstrates the dearth of studies in the literature targeting ETS reduction among children. Participants in Project KISS believed that smoking had affected their children's health and were in later stages of motivational readiness to quit smoking than is typically observed. However, they face a number of challenges to smoking, such as high prevalence of nicotine dependence, high prevalence of living with other smokers, and socioeconomic and stress-related barriers.


CONCLUSIONS
The policy implications of this research are discussed, and recommendations are made for future research.
Emmons
K M
KM
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. kaaren_emmsons@dfci.harvard.edu
Wong
M
M
Hammond
S K
SK
Velicer
W F
WF
Fava
J L
JL
Monroe
A D
AD
Evans
J L
JL
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012307:Risk Factors; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000517:prevention & control*
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution