| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 公共衛生研究所 === 96 === Objective: To explore the knowledge and attitudes toward second hand smoke (SHS) hazards, and their support of smoke-free policy among restaurant owners and managers in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Background: The exposure to SHS is one of major health hazards among employees at workplaces. The employees and customers are at high risk of exposure to SHS at restaurants in the absence of a clear smoke-free policy. Recent scientific evidence showed that smoke-free policy is the most effective way to protect people from SHS. It is essential to assess the attitude among restaurant owners and managers to understand their reasons for or against smoke-free policy before its implementation in Ulaanbaatar.
Method: A cross-sectional survey in 475 restaurants in Ulaanbaatar was carried out. Research instruments included a self-developed questionnaire and an observation chart. The questionnaire enquired about demographic data (age, gender, education, income, health status), personal smoking status (smoking behaviors and tobacco use), working conditions (working environment and work hour), the presence of SHS at restaurants, knowledge, attitudes and practice of exposure to SHS and smoke-free policy at restaurants, and current smoking ban or restrictions at the restaurant. The owners (managers or senior leaders if owners are not available) would be invited to answer an anonymous questionnaire with face to face interview, which was randomly selected by stratified cluster sampling. Data analysis were run by the SPSS version 15.0 software utilizing in descriptive analysis and multiple logistic regression.
Results: The majority knew that SHS causes adverse effects on health and mined SHS exposure. 87.4% participants supported government to implement smoke-free policy. Currently only 24.2% restaurants are smoke-free. In terms of air quality at restaurants, the majority thought it is good. More than half of interviewees thought that business will not be affected, while 38.5% thought business would decline if smoke-free policy were implemented; 41.8% believed that customers who smoke would not come to restaurants if it is 100% smoke-free.
In univarate analysis, sex, age, smoking history, education, job title, serving alcohol, having menu in foreign languages, and concerned about losing business are significantly associated with support for voluntary implementation of smoke-free policy in the restaurants. In multivariate analysis adjusted for the above variables, some restaurant characteritics, including serving alcohol (OR: 0.25, 95% C.I.:0.12-0.51), having menu in foreigner languages (OR: 0.57, 95% C.I.:0.34-0.96), and concerns about business decline (OR: 0.48, 95% C.I.:0.29-0.79) are negatively associated with support for a volunatary ban in the restaurants.
On the other hand, support for the government to implement smoke-free policy among all the restraurants was associated with a different set of variables, including age, education, job title, smoking status and concerns for business in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis adjusted for personal factors and restaurant characteristics, male owners and mangers (OR 0.5, 95% C.I. 0.26-0.94) and restaurants serving alcohol (OR 0.25, 95% C.I. 0.10-0.65) are less likely to support government’s smoke-free policy.
Conclusion: This survey showed that restaurant owners and managers had high level of awareness of health hazards of SHS, and positive attitudes toward anti-SHS policies. However, only limited number of restaurants implemented smoke-free policy. The study conclud that with strong support from the public, it is time for Mongolian government to enact and implement smoke-free policy.
|
|---|
