| Summary: | Introduction
The health effects of secondhand smoking (SHS) exposure are well identified. Article 8 of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) specifies preventive measures against SHS exposure adapted by many countries worldwide, including Albania. Although such policies are only indirectly aiming young adults, they demonstrate the positive effects of smoke-free bans in public places that are associated with overall health protection and reduced progression and experimentation with smoking. The study aims to assess the attitudes of students at the University of Vlora toward exposure to SHS.
Methods
This is a cross-sectional study conducted at Vlora University in Albania from February to May 2019. Students from all Faculties (Public Health; Human Sciences; Economics and Technical Sciences) and all academic years (Bachelor’s and Master’s students) were enrolled during classes. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. SPSS-23 was used for the analysis.
Results
The total sample comprised 987 students (75.0% female). In all, 22.5% of participants stated that they always distance themselves from someone who smokes, and 23.7% reported never staying with the group when someone starts smoking. More than half (56.1%) of the respondents would always ask the driver or other passengers in a car not to smoke while approximately one in five would always choose to stay in a public place where people smoke if there were no public places where smoke-free legislation is respected.
Conclusions
Despite the enforcement of smoke-free legislation in Albania, the results of our study are indicative of the weak level of implementation and support of students towards smoke-free policies. Better implementation of the current legislation, enforcement of stricter tobacco-free public places and community and/or university awareness campaigns on the harms of SHS exposure are of high significance.
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