title: Support for no-smoking policies among residents of public multiunit housing differs by smoking status.
abstract: We compared perceptions of smoking and non-smoking Tacoma, WA multiunit public housing residents regarding smoke-free policies and in-home smoking rules. Two-hundred-twenty-nine completed surveys (~16% of units) of a modified version of the CDC's multiunit housing resident survey were analyzed. Smokers differed significantly (p < 0.05) from non-smokers with respect to agreement with policies that would ban smoking in homes (41% of smokers and 82% of non-smokers strongly agreed or agreed), in common indoor areas (74% of smokers and 82% of non-smokers strongly agreed or agreed), and for outdoor areas (38% of smokers and 68% of non-smokers strongly agreed or agreed). For in-home smoking rules, smokers and non-smokers again differed significantly (p < 0.05) with 53% of smokers and 90% of non-smokers not allowing smoking in their homes. Twenty-five percent of residents reported smelling secondhand smoke that infiltrated their residence from the outside on a daily basis. The most notable findings are that more than 50% of smokers do not allow smoking in their homes and that more than 50% of smokers are supportive of or neutral with respect to smoke-free policies for one's home. This suggests that implementation of smoke-free policies may not greatly impact vacancy rates even in populations with high rates of smoking (37% in this study).
authors.affiliation: Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, 3629 South D Street, Tacoma, WA, 98418-6813, USA, dballor@tpchd.org.
authors.forename: Douglas L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Ballor
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Henson
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: MacGuire
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011638:Public Housing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011639:Public Opinion; D061845:Smoke-Free Policy; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology