Knowledge of smoking implications and acceptance of smoking ban at food premises

Abstract

Smoking has become a comman practice in society today. Various initiatives have been taken to reduce smoker populations in the country but almost all doesn’t work. The introduction and imposition of a ban on smoking in public spaces especially on food premises introduced by the Ministry of Health Malaysia have received positive and negative responses from consumers. This study was conducted to determine the level of consumers’ awareness of the implications of smoking on health; and the level of consumers’ acceptance of smoking ban instructions on food premises. At the same time, the study also aimed at determining the food premis owners’ perceptions of no smoking instructions at food premises. A total of 500 consumers at the food premises and 50 food premis owner were selected as a sample. Findings indicate that the level of knowledge about the implications of smoking on health was high (mean = 3.54) and that respondents’ level of acceptance of smoking ban instructions was also high (mean = 3.13). The analysis also showed that there was a significant relationship between the level of respondents’ knowledge of the implications of smoking and the prohibition of smoking imposed on food premises with a value of r = 0.728 at a significant level p = 0.000 level. Meanwhile, most food premis owners say that smoking bans on food premises do not affect their business performance, and Pearson’s correlation findings also indicate that there is a weak relationship between smoking bans and business performance.