The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: To guide the development of a model policy, the study identified attitudes, practices, and beliefs toward non-smoking worksite policies among mid-level administrators in Armenia and options and obstacles for implementing smoke-free workplace policies.

Methods: Mixed methods were used. First, focus group discussions with public administrators and business managers generated ideas about options and obstacles for smoke-free policies. Based on these results, a survey was administered at 243 worksites, representing state/municipal, health care, educational, culture, and business institutions. The three largest cities in Armenia were arbitrarily selected as a target site. Stratified random sampling of worksites was used to increase the generalizability of the results.

Results: While a larger proportion of the (male) population smokes (67.5%), broad support was found for workplace smoking policies: 95% of respondents supported bans in health, educational and cultural institutions and 81% supported bans in state and private worksites. While only 38% of managers were aware of the state law regulating worksite smoking, 55.6% had some type of smoking policy.

Managers generally agreed (40%) that employee demand would facilitate implementing smoke-free policies. Less important factors were liability of the employer (31.3%), work safety (27.5%), and public image of the company (18%). Half of the respondents perceived that the culture of tolerance was an important barrier to implementing smoke-free policies. Another barrier cited was the lack of enforcement and follow up.

Based on these findings, a set of policy recommendations was prepared and disseminated to the government and relevant stake-holders.