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Environmental approaches to tobacco control include altering the physical, social, economic, and communication environments (Brownson et al., 2006 xClose
Brownson, R., Haire-Joshu, D., Luke, D. (2006). Shaping the context of health: A review of environmental and policy approaches in the prevention of chronic diseases. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 341-70.). Strategies include clean indoor air policies, restricting youth access to tobacco products, raising the cost of tobacco through excise taxes, mass media campaigns to change social norms, and restricting advertising, among others. Many of these environmental change strategies have been shown to be effective in reducing either secondhand smoke exposure or tobacco use (Hopkins et al., 2001 xClose
Hopkins, D., Briss, P., Ricard, C., et al. (2001). Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce tobacco use and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 20(suppl 2), 16-66.; US, 2006 xClose
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2006). The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.). For example, numerous studies have shown that worksite smoking bans contribute to decreases in daily consumption of cigarettes and decreased smoking prevalence among employees, in addition to reduced secondhand smoke exposure (US DHHS, 2006 xClose
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2006). The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.). Evidence is also accumulating to show that household smoking restrictions may have the same effect in aiding cessation as do worksite smoking bans (Farkas et al., 1999 xClose
Farkas, A., Gilpin, E., Distefan, J., et al. (1999). The effects of household and workplace smoking restrictions on quitting behaviours. Tobacco Control, 8, 261-265.; Gilpin et al., 1999 xClose
Gilpin, E., White, M., Farkas, A., et al. (1999). Home smoking restrictions: which smokers have them and how they are associated with smoking behavior. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 1, 153-162.; Okah et al., 2002 xClose
Okah, F., Choi, W., Okuyemi K et al. (2002). Effect of children on home smoking restrictions by inner-city smokers. Pediatrics, 109(2), 244-249.; Kegler & Malcoe, 2002 xClose
Kegler, M., Malcoe, L. (2002). Smoking restrictions in the home and car among rural Native American and white families with young children. Preventive Medicine, 35, 334-343.). For example, a recent longitudinal study found that for smokers who were preparing to quit at baseline, full bans were associated with both a seven-day quit attempt at follow-up and successful cessation (Pizacani et al., 2004 xClose
Pizacani, B., Martin, D., Stark, M. et al. (2004). A prospective study of household smoking bans and subsequent cessation related behavior: the role of stage of change. Tobacco Control,13, 23-28.). Given the large amount of research conducted on tobacco environments, numerous measures exist. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System assesses worksite smoking policies and household smoking restrictions. Specific measures for assessing household smoking restrictions and workplace policies are available from the Center for Disease Control.
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