Abstract:
Introduction As of 1st July 2011, all prisons in New Zealand would become a smoke-free workplace therefore all prisoners would not be able to smoke tobacco while in prison. This provided a unique opportunity to measure the effect of this smoking ban by using the construct of susceptibility and future intent to smoke. Aim The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the smoking ban on a prisoners’ susceptibility to smoking in particular once released. It aims to explore a prisoner’ relationship between readiness to quit and susceptibility when stopping smoking is mandatory not personal choice. It aims to identify if the intervention of a smoking ban has a positive effect on susceptibility to quit smoking for a female in prison. Method A pre and post intervention, qualitative and quantitative approach was used. Data was collected using two questionnaires, one at baseline (pre-intervention), with follow-up after three months. Six participants volunteered to be interviewed at three months post-intervention. Findings Data was collected and analysed from 92 pre-intervention prisoners with 60 completing follow-up data. All participants were sentenced prisoners who identified as smokers prior to the smoking ban. Susceptibility was measured with two questions, how likely is it that you will smoke within the next month and if a friend offered you one. Results indicated that the vast majority of participants could not give a firm decision not to smoke. There was no statistical difference between pre and post intervention indicating that irrespective of time since last smoke the decision to smoke again in the future remains the same. Conclusion Prisoners in a smoke-free prison are highly susceptible to restarting smoking once released. The challenge is for prisons to provide an intensive smoking cessation programme immediately prior to and after release to help support prisoners to have sustained long-term cessation.
