Predictors of support among students, faculty and staff for a smoke-free university campus

Abstract

Objectives: Students, faculty, and staff at a Pacific Northwest public university were surveyed one year after enactment of a smoke-free campus policy. Objectives were to assess levels of support for a smoke-free campus, ascertain exposure levels to outdoor tobacco smoke, and identify correlates of policy support.

Method: A 2013 Web-based survey included 5691 students (response rate 26%) and 2051 faculty/staff (response rate 43%). Measures included support for a smoke-free campus, smoking status, exposure to secondhand smoke, and perceptions of levels of policy support and campus smoking. Logistic regression was used to examine predictors of support.

Results: Seventy-two percent of students and 77% of faculty/staff supported a smoke-free campus. Respondents reported limited exposure to smoke near building entrances, but exposure near campus boundaries was reported by majorities of students (77%) and faculty/staff (55%). Predictors of students' policy support included never-smoker status, perceived support by peers, perceived student smoking prevalence, campus smoke exposure, and female gender, among others. Predictors of faculty/staff support included never-smoker status, perceived policy support by students and peers, campus smoke exposure, female gender, and age.

Conclusion: Students, faculty, and staff were strongly supportive of the existing smoke-free campus policy. However, the policy led to smoking activity shifting to the campus periphery.

Keywords: Environmental tobacco smoke; Smoke-free policy; Smoking; Tobacco; Universities.