1. Employee Attitudes About Moving Toward a Smoke-Free Campus at a Veterans Affairs Hospital.
- Author
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Duffy, Sonia A., Ewing, Lee A., Welsh, Deborah E., Flanagan, Petra S., Waltje, Andrea H., Breedveld, Stacey B., and Young, Eric W.
- Subjects
EMPLOYEE attitudes ,HEALTH facility administration ,MULTIVARIATE analysis ,PROBABILITY theory ,STATISTICAL sampling ,SEX distribution ,SMOKING ,VETERANS' hospitals ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics - Abstract
Background: Although Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals have been smoke-free inside of buildings since 1991, smoke-free campuses have not been initiated. The purpose of this article is to describe staff attitudes regarding making the VA hospital a smoke-free campus except for the mandated smoking shelters. Methods: In 2008, a cross-sectional, anonymous survey was conducted with a convenience sample of employees at a Midwestern VA (N = 397). Results: Descriptive statistics showed that the vast number of employees were in support of a smoke-free campus (76%), relocating the smoking shelters (62%), and offering employees assistance to quit smoking (71%). Multivariate analyses showed that those who were nonsmokers, older, women, and higher educated were the greatest supporters of policies to support a smoke-free environment (p < .05). Write-in comments were generally favorable but also revealed employee resistance related to freedom, personal choice, and potential loss in productivity as smokers go further away from the building to smoke. Conclusions: VA hospitals have unique challenges in implementing smoke-free campus policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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