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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sadrivaan A and B (The Hilton Istanbul Hotel )
OBJECTIVE : The study aimed to assess smoking behavior as well as opinion and attitude of parliamentarians on the new legislation for tobacco control which was prepared and passed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
METHOD: The study population consisted of 23.Term Parliamentarians (n=246) of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Data of the descriptive study were collected in April,2008 through a standart questionnaire comprised of 31 questions on sociodemographics, smoking behavior, opinion on health effects of smoking and attitude towards the new legislation for tobacco control. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data, whereas chi-square was used to compare groups. For statistical significance, alpha value was taken as 0.05.
RESULTS: Of the study participants, 90.7% were male with a mean age of 51.2±7.8 years. 26.5% of the parliamentarians were found to be current smokers. Nine out of ten parliamentarians expressed their support for the new tobocco control law; however, nonsmokers were found to advocate for passing the law more than smokers (p=0.007). On the other hand, smoking parliamentarians were found to request a private smoking area in the Parliament Building and to allow their guests to smoke in their private offices more than their nonsmoking counterparts (p<0.05 and p<0.05, respectively). Among the current smokers, 42.4% expressed their will to quit smoking by the time the new law takes effect.
CONCLUSION: Although majority of the parliamentarians are in favor of the new tobacco control law, some of the individual attitudes, especially among the smoking parliamentarians and those against the law were found to be negative. Appropriate interventions should be developed to raise awareness among parliamentarians for them to give more support to the implemantation of the new legislation for tobacco control.
KEY WORDS: Tobacco, Smoking, Legislation, Parliamentarian
METHOD: The study population consisted of 23.Term Parliamentarians (n=246) of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Data of the descriptive study were collected in April,2008 through a standart questionnaire comprised of 31 questions on sociodemographics, smoking behavior, opinion on health effects of smoking and attitude towards the new legislation for tobacco control. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data, whereas chi-square was used to compare groups. For statistical significance, alpha value was taken as 0.05.
RESULTS: Of the study participants, 90.7% were male with a mean age of 51.2±7.8 years. 26.5% of the parliamentarians were found to be current smokers. Nine out of ten parliamentarians expressed their support for the new tobocco control law; however, nonsmokers were found to advocate for passing the law more than smokers (p=0.007). On the other hand, smoking parliamentarians were found to request a private smoking area in the Parliament Building and to allow their guests to smoke in their private offices more than their nonsmoking counterparts (p<0.05 and p<0.05, respectively). Among the current smokers, 42.4% expressed their will to quit smoking by the time the new law takes effect.
CONCLUSION: Although majority of the parliamentarians are in favor of the new tobacco control law, some of the individual attitudes, especially among the smoking parliamentarians and those against the law were found to be negative. Appropriate interventions should be developed to raise awareness among parliamentarians for them to give more support to the implemantation of the new legislation for tobacco control.
KEY WORDS: Tobacco, Smoking, Legislation, Parliamentarian
Learning Objectives: 1.Describe why parliamentarians should be one of the target populations to raise awareness on tobacco control 2.Recognize the role of parliamentarians in legislative processes related to public health issues, including tobacco control. 3.Discuss possible interventions at the decision makers’ level for promotion of tobacco free environments.
Sub-Theme: Controlling the tobacco epidemic
See more of: Poster: Controlling the Tobacco Epidemic
See more of: Public Health Practices Around the Globe
See more of: Public Health Practices Around the Globe