Smoke-free policies effectively reduce secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers, and reduce consumption, encourage quit attempts and minimize relapse to smoking among smokers. Such policies are uncommon in permanent supportive housing (PSH) for formerly homeless individuals. In this study, published in the Journal of Community Health (September, 2017), tobacco control researchers, Anne Berit Petersen, RN, PhD, Holly C. Stewart, Jon Walters and Maya Vijayaraghavan, MD, collaborated with a PSH provider in San Diego, California to assess a smoke-free policy that restricted indoor smoking. They determined that following smoke-free policy implementation there was a 59.7 percent reduction in indoor smoking, and the proportion of residents who previously identified as current smokers was reduced by 13 percent. Read the full article.
