Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on June 29, 2006
Journal of Public Health 2006 28(3):192-196; doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdl029
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A survey of staff attitudes to smoking-related policy and intervention in psychiatric and general health care settings
Lisa McNally, Honorary Lecturer in Tobacco Addiction1
Adenekan Oyefeso, Reader in Addiction Psychology1
Jan Annan, Associate Director2
Katherine Perryman, Research Fellow1
Roger Bloor, Senior Lecturer in Addiction Psychiatry3
Steve Freeman, Researcher3
Barbara Wain, Researcher3
Hilary Andrews, Co-ordinator4
Martin Grimmer, Consultant Physician5
Arthur Crisp, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry1
Deji Oyebode, Medical Director6
A. Hamid Ghodse, Director2
1 Department of Mental Health—Addictive Behaviour, St George’s, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, UK
2 International Centre for Drug Policy, St George’s, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, UK
3 Keele University Medical School, Academic Psychiatry Unit, Harplands Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 6TH, UK
4 Suffolk Stop Smoking Service, The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, Heath Road, Ipswich IP4 5PD, UK
5 The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust, Heath Road, Ipswich IP4 5PD, UK
6 South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust, Springfield University Hospital, London SW17 7DJ, UK
Address correspondence to A. Hamid Ghodse, E-mail: hghodse{at}sgul.ac.uk
Background Although the move to smoke-free hospital settings is generally a popular initiative, it may be a more challenging and controversial issue in mental health care. A survey was carried out to investigate differences in attitudes between clinical staff in psychiatric and general medical settings to smoke-free policy and intervention.
Method The sample comprised 2574 NHS staff working in two Acute Hospital Trusts and one Mental Health Trust in England. Attitudes were examined on two factors: health care settings as smoke-free environments and the role of staff in stop smoking intervention.
Results The findings indicated that attitudes on the two factors were only moderately correlated. Psychiatric staff expressed significantly less favourable attitudes than general staff to smoke-free health care settings and also to the role of staff in stop smoking intervention. The largest difference between the settings concerned the implementation of smoking bans. While approximately 1 in 10 staff in the general setting disagreed with a smoking ban in their wards or clinics, nearly one in three psychiatric staff was against such a ban in their setting.
Conclusions Staff attitudes need to be carefully considered, particularly in psychiatric settings, in attempts to implement smoke-free policies in health care settings.
Keywords: smoke-free policy, smoking, staff survey, tobacco