Smoking Status of Teachers and their Attitudes About Smoking Restriction

Abstract

In our country smoking was restricted in public institutions and public transportation vehicles with a legislation. This restriction also includes the school premises but there are no studies about compliance to this legislation in schools. In this study we aimed to evaluate the smoking status and attitudes against smoking restriction of primary and high school teachers in Afyon. Three hundred and sixty five teachers, 17 deputy manager and 7 manager of 11 randomly selected schools in 3 educational regions in Afyon were interviewed and a questionnaire was filled. Mean age of the participants were 37.7 +/- 8.1 (22-57), 56.9% were male and 43.1% were female. Smoking prevalance was 32.5%. Smoker teachers significantly less frequently prefer working in a smoke-free school and less frequently consider that smoking teachers encourage students. They demand smoking to be free in school premises significantly more than nonsmokers. Presence of an isolated smoking room and a no smoking sign was significantly more frequently reported by smokers than nonsmokers. Compliance to smoking restriction in school was considered to be higher by smoker teachers. Nonsmoker teachers more frequently demanded a punishment for smoking in school premises. As a conclusion, most of the teachers knew that smoking is restricted in school premises but the compliance to this restriction is not satisfactory. This data shows that teachers who should be model people for the students are not aware enough about smoking and its hazardous effects.