Smoke-Free School Zone Policy and Its Association with Attitudes Toward Smoking and Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among School-Aged Children and Key Stakeholders.
Jieun Kim, Jina Choo, Songwhi Noh, Ah Hyun Park, Jihae Choi
{"title":"Smoke-Free School Zone Policy and Its Association with Attitudes Toward Smoking and Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among School-Aged Children and Key Stakeholders.","authors":"Jieun Kim, Jina Choo, Songwhi Noh, Ah Hyun Park, Jihae Choi","doi":"10.2147/RMHP.S533225","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Smoke-free zone policies in school settings have been widely implemented; however, evidence regarding their impact on smoking-related attitudes and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure remains limited. This study aimed to examine the association between a smoke-free zone policy implemented along school commuting routes and attitudes toward smoking and SHS exposure among elementary school students, their parents, and school staff in Seoul, South Korea.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants were 210 students, 272 parents, and 137 school staff from the five schools randomly selected according to the criteria of regional deprivation index and prevalence of designated smoke-free zones from all the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. \"Attitudes toward smoking\" and \"exposure to SHS\" were the outcome variables, and the \"presence of a smoke-free zone along the school commuting route\" was the predictor variable. All variables were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. Data were collected between November 2020 and December 2020. The multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to test main hypotheses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Students and school staff in schools with designated smoke-free zones along school commuting routes were significantly less likely to be exposed to SHS along those routes, compared to their counterparts without such zones (odds ratio [OR] = 0.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.098-0.853; p =0.025 for students; OR = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.008-0.939; p =0.044 for school staff). However, the presence of smoke-free zones along school commuting routes was not significantly associated with attitudes toward smoking among students, parents, or school staff.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Designation of smoke-free zones along school commuting routes may be effective in reducing exposure to SHS among students and school staff. The active and consistent enforcement of smoke-free policies within school settings may play a critical role in further reducing SHS exposure among children and related stakeholders.</p>","PeriodicalId":56009,"journal":{"name":"Risk Management and Healthcare Policy","volume":"18 ","pages":"2911-2920"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12419213/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Risk Management and Healthcare Policy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S533225","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Smoke-free zone policies in school settings have been widely implemented; however, evidence regarding their impact on smoking-related attitudes and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure remains limited. This study aimed to examine the association between a smoke-free zone policy implemented along school commuting routes and attitudes toward smoking and SHS exposure among elementary school students, their parents, and school staff in Seoul, South Korea.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants were 210 students, 272 parents, and 137 school staff from the five schools randomly selected according to the criteria of regional deprivation index and prevalence of designated smoke-free zones from all the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. "Attitudes toward smoking" and "exposure to SHS" were the outcome variables, and the "presence of a smoke-free zone along the school commuting route" was the predictor variable. All variables were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. Data were collected between November 2020 and December 2020. The multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to test main hypotheses.
Results: Students and school staff in schools with designated smoke-free zones along school commuting routes were significantly less likely to be exposed to SHS along those routes, compared to their counterparts without such zones (odds ratio [OR] = 0.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.098-0.853; p =0.025 for students; OR = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.008-0.939; p =0.044 for school staff). However, the presence of smoke-free zones along school commuting routes was not significantly associated with attitudes toward smoking among students, parents, or school staff.
Conclusion: Designation of smoke-free zones along school commuting routes may be effective in reducing exposure to SHS among students and school staff. The active and consistent enforcement of smoke-free policies within school settings may play a critical role in further reducing SHS exposure among children and related stakeholders.
期刊介绍:
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal focusing on all aspects of public health, policy and preventative measures to promote good health and improve morbidity and mortality in the population. Specific topics covered in the journal include:
Public and community health
Policy and law
Preventative and predictive healthcare
Risk and hazard management
Epidemiology, detection and screening
Lifestyle and diet modification
Vaccination and disease transmission/modification programs
Health and safety and occupational health
Healthcare services provision
Health literacy and education
Advertising and promotion of health issues
Health economic evaluations and resource management
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy focuses on human interventional and observational research. The journal welcomes submitted papers covering original research, clinical and epidemiological studies, reviews and evaluations, guidelines, expert opinion and commentary, and extended reports. Case reports will only be considered if they make a valuable and original contribution to the literature. The journal does not accept study protocols, animal-based or cell line-based studies.