title: Evaluation of the impact of a smoke-free home initiative in Rotherham, a deprived district in Northern England.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An evaluation of a smoke-free home initiative launched in Rotherham, northern England, in July 2009.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two approaches were used: (i) a postal survey of participants 4 months after signing up as a SFH and (ii) a telephone consultation. The survey was sent to 620 households (of 654 who signed up to the scheme); 289 (46.6%) were returned. The telephone consultation involved 20 households before and 20 after signing up to the scheme.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the households that permitted some smoking at home before the initiative, ~78% became smoke free after signing up (uncertainty due to missing replies). A high number of participants (169, 60.8%) were already informally smoke free. The most common reasons for participation concerned health, environment, and fire safety. Participants were motivated by, amongst other things, information given in a booklet and by the offer of a fire-safety referral. The most immediate benefits noted by participants were improvements in house hygiene. The most important hindrance to success seemed to be a lack of power to enforce the ban at home, particularly on the part of those living in smokers' homes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Rotherham initiative succeeded in creating smoke-free homes. The results should help those planning similar initiatives. Important points include that: many participants had already instituted some rules regarding smoking at home; whether and how to include households that are already smoke-free; risk of fire and concern with house hygiene are important motivations; those living in smokers' homes may lack power to initiate smoke-free rules.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health and Social Care Research, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield. p.allmark@shu.ac.uk
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Allmark
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tod
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McDonnell
authors.forename: Khamis
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Alawy
authors.forename: Kaye
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hollis
authors.forename: Dania
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Qutishat
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iliff
mesh_terms: D004739:England; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005390:Fires / Q000517:prevention & control; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution