Second-hand smoke exposure and household smoking bans in Chinese families: a qualitative study

Abstract

As workplace smoking restrictions spread, smoking in the home is becoming the predominant source of exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) among children and other non-smokers in the household. This study explored issues around children's exposure to SHS. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted among 31 Chinese households in urban Shanghai, China. All FGDs/IDIs were audio recorded and analysed thematically. The findings suggest that there are gaps in knowledge of the health consequences of smoking and SHS among the participants. Although there was a lack of knowledge about the health risk of exposure to SHS, most were willing to protect their child from the SHS exposure. In 16/31 households, families had partial home-smoking restrictions; there were no complete restrictions in any of the smokers' homes. Many families do not openly discuss smoking or smoking restrictions at home. Barriers to adopting a smoke-free home included the social acceptability of smoking (22/31), hosting social gatherings at home, which would involve smoking (12/31), authoritative attitudes of the husband or father-in-law (10/31), and difficulties with visitors who smoke (7/31). Most (28/31) participants stated they would accept a counselling intervention to reduce SHS exposure to children and suggested various measures to implement it. The findings from this intervention have implications for designing intervention strategies to reduce SHS exposure at home among children in China.

Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Smoke-Free Rules in Homes among Socially-Disadvantaged Populations in Poland

“…Previous studies have also shown that Chinese parents tend to be unaware of the health risk of ETS exposure, while the main reasons for not adopting smoking bans at home included the social acceptability of smoking and the predominant influence of male family members. Awareness of the harmful effects of smoking and ETS exposure has been associated with the adoption of home smoking bans in China [40,56,57]. Similar to a previous study conducted in Poland among economically-active respondents by Kaleta et al, low awareness of the health consequences of ETS turned out to be the significant predictor of the total smoking ban adoption level among the residents of the Piotrkowski District [52].…”

Addressing Parental Smoking in Pediatric Settings of Chinese Hospitals: A Qualitative Study of Parents

“…Why do parents of children feel that they have to expose their child to SHS from others? Possible reasons could be traditional Chinese cultural values which are pervasive in Chinese society and smoking culture, such as “to show respect to others,” “to be polite or friendly,” “to maintain the good relationships,” and “to develop business relationships” [17, 18]. For example, if parents tried to ask grandparents to stop smoking at home, it might be regarded as an affront or offensive to the elder.…”

Public Place Smoke-Free Regulations, Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Related Beliefs, Awareness, Attitudes, and Practices among Chinese Urban Residents

“…They offer cigarettes to each other as commodities, and prohibition of smoking is associated with loss of face. Consequently, public education should reflect the twin needs to change the smoking norm and inculcate positive attitudes towards tobacco control [24]. …”