Practices, Attitudes and Knowledge of Food Service Owners and Managers of South Central Kentucky Regarding Provision of a Smoke-Free Environment for Customers

• Main Author: Pagan, Jose
• Format: Others
• Published: TopSCHOLAR® 1996
• Subjects: Public Health
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/876; http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1879&context=theses

The harmful effects on health caused by exposure to enviromental tobacco smoke (ETS) are well documented. In 1987 and 1996 mail surveys were conducted to determine the change in practices, attitudes and knowledge of food service owners and managers of south central Kentucky on some issues relating to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Study subjects included all food service owners and managers of south central Kentucky that have a permit on file at the Barren River District Health Department. In 1987, a total of 127 out of 431 questionnaires were received ( 29.5% response rate). In 1996 the response rate was 30.6% (190 responses out of 620 questionnaires mailed). Most of the responses in the 1996 survey (42.6%) were from Warren county. Retail food services and school cafeterias made up 57.9% of the respondents. It was hypothesized that there has not been any changes in the percentages of food services establishments that offer a nonsmoking area to the customers between 1987 and 1996, that the percentage of food service owners that recognize the hazards of ETS has not changed, and that the percentage of food service owners that agree that the prohibition of smoking would result in a loss of customers has not changed since 1987. Using Chi-squares, frequencies and percentages it was determined that there has been an increase in the percentage of places that have a nonsmoking area 20.6% in 1987, 57.4% in 1996 (significant to 0.0001). It was also determined that there was a significance of 0.01 between the percentage of managers that agree that ETS is harmful to nonsmokers [ 71.2% in 1987 vs 98.1% in 1996 (item #3), and 43.5% in 1987 vs. 54.1% in 1996 (item #4)]. A significance of 0.0001 was found on the question of believing that a change to a smoke-free facility will result in a loss of customers. In 1987, 79.4% agreed on the statement being true vs. 53.5% in 1996.