Using a community based public health survey to address restaurant tobacco policies

A committee of community and university representatives developed a county-wide community health survey using CPBH principles. The survey addressed a broad range of health and community issues, including attitudes towards restaurant tobacco policies. Results based on a representative sample of 1650 adult residents revealed that 60.8% thought that smoking should not be allowed at all in restaurants, 37.5% thought that smoking should be allowed in some areas, and 1.7% thought that smoking should be allowed in all areas of restaurants. Therefore, 98% of respondents thought that smoking in restaurants should be limited in some way. Also, 90.8% of respondents would be more likely to go to a smoke-free restaurant or said that the smoking policy would not make a difference to them. Similar items indicated that nearly 80% of respondents believed that smoking in bars and cocktail lounges should be limited in some way. The Smoke-Free, Multi-Agency Resource Team (SMART Coalition) is presenting these results to increase public awareness of the community and economic support for smoke-free environments and support for smoke-free legislation. The data will be featured in presentations, press releases, fact sheets, educational mailings, and articles. The results will be provided to legislators during in-district meetings to inform them of how their constituents feel about smoke-free environments. The data will be shared with restaurant owners through the health department's “The Backburner" Newsletter which is distributed to all licensed food service establishments.