Monitoring tobacco control policy implementation via population-based survey

Background:

The current Armenian legislation provides partial protection from secondhand smoke, bans tobacco sale to and by minors and bans tobacco advertising in media.

Methods:

We used a population-based survey as a tool for assessing the implementation of tobacco control policy in Armenia. A multi-stage cluster sampling design was used to collect data from 720 men and women in age group 18-60yrs. in May-June 2005 in three provinces of Armenia. Trained interviewers administrated 96-item questionnaire in randomly selected households. The research team entered, cleaned and analyzed the data using SPSS statistical package.

Results:

Of 246 employed respondents, 52.8% reported that their workplace was not smoke-free.

Among respondents who generally watch TV and listen to radio, 49.8% reported exposure to tobacco advertisement on TV, with a significant difference across the regions, and 12.8% were exposed to tobacco advertisement on radio.

The majority of respondents (81.8%) observed minors buying cigarettes, and more than half of respondents (53.6%) observed a minor selling cigarettes.

Younger respondents (<25yrs.) were offered promotional items almost 4 times more often than older (>45yrs.) (13.9% vs. 3.6%, p=0.01). Similarly, younger people were more often offered free cigarettes (11.4% vs. 3.6%), but the difference was not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

Though the population-based survey as a tobacco control policy monitoring tool has its limitations, however, it can generate reliable information on the core policy provisions, such as sales to and by minors, protection from exposure to tobacco smoke and tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.