Smoke-free school policy and exposure to second-hand smoke: A quasi-experimental analysis
Menée au Canada à partir d'une enquête auprès d'un échantillon de 20 388 jeunes âgés de 15 à 18 ans, cette étude évalue, en fonction du statut tabagique, l'effet d'une politique scolaire interdisant de fumer au sein de l'établissement sur l'exposition au tabagisme passif
Introduction : Tobacco control prevention efforts are important to protect people from exposure to dangerous tobacco smoke, support cessation and reduce tobacco-use initiation. While smoke-free laws have been a widespread tobacco control strategy, little work has been done to examine the impact of smoke-free school policies. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of provincial smoke-free school ground policies on youth-reported exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) on school property. Methods : This study used a nationally representative sample of 20,388 youth aged 15-18 from the 2005-2012 Canada Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey. A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the impact of smoke-free school policies on SHS exposure. Results : Approximately over half (52%) of respondents reported SHS exposure on a school property in the past month. Smoke-free school policy had a statistically significant effect on SHS exposure. Specifically, the adoption of smoke-free school reduced the probability of SHS exposure by about 8 percentage points. Respondents who were smokers were more likely to report being exposed to SHS than non-smokers. Likewise, those living in urban areas had higher probability of being exposed to SHS than those living in rural parts of Canada. Conclusions : Reported exposure to tobacco smoke did decrease after the introduction of smoke-free ground policies; however, almost half of high-school aged youth report exposure in the last month. Across Canada, provincial health authorities as well as school administers may need to assess the implementation of these smoke-free policies and improve enforcement strategies to further reduce exposure to dangerous SHS.