Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Box 7343 Wellington South, Wellington, New Zealand.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2011 May;13(5):389-94. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntq250. Epub 2011 Jan 27.
Smokefree street policies are relatively rare, and little has been published on the methods for establishing an evidence base to inform such policy making. We aimed to (a) pilot methods for such data collection in New Zealand, a country where local governments are actively pursuing outdoor smokefree policies and (a) to provide data on smoking behavior, attitudes toward smokefree policies, and levels of smoke exposure on streets in Wellington.
Three methods were piloted: (a) systematic observation of smoking behavior by observers walking a standard route of major streets, the "Golden Mile" (GM) in Wellington (n = 42 observation runs); (b) measurement of fine particulate levels (PM(2.5)) along this route and with purposeful sampling in selected settings; and (c) an attitudinal survey of pedestrians along sections of this route.
Each of the 3 methods proved to be feasible in this urban setting. A total of 932 smokers were observed during 21 hr of observation, an average of 7 smokers every 10 min of walking. Air monitoring indicated fine particulate exposure. Levels of (mean) PM(2.5) were 1.5 times higher during periods when smoking was observed than when they were not (9.3 vs. 6.3 μg/m(3), p = .002). Dose-response patterns were observed for smoking proximity and for smoker numbers. Surveying pedestrians (n = 220) with a brief questionnaire achieved an 81% response rate and was able to identify variation in support for a smokefree GM by different groups (overall support was 55.9%, 95% CI = 49.3%-62.4%). Reasons for support were also identified, for example, perceived health hazards, at 34.1%, was the main reason.
These methods can provide information that may contribute to the smokefree streets policymaking process and may also be relevant to informing other smokefree outdoor policies.
无烟街道政策相对较少，关于建立证据基础以告知此类政策制定的方法，相关研究也很少。我们旨在：(a) 试点新西兰此类数据收集方法，新西兰地方政府正在积极推行室外无烟政策；(a) 提供惠灵顿街道吸烟行为、无烟政策态度和烟雾暴露水平的数据。
试点了三种方法：(a) 观察者沿主要街道的标准路线（惠灵顿的“黄金英里”（GM））进行吸烟行为的系统观察（n = 42 次观察）；(b) 沿该路线测量细颗粒物（PM2.5）水平，并在选定的地点进行有针对性的采样；(c) 对该路线部分路段的行人进行态度调查。
这三种方法在这种城市环境中均被证明是可行的。在 21 小时的观察中，共观察到 932 名吸烟者，平均每 10 分钟步行 7 名吸烟者。空气监测表明存在细颗粒物暴露。与未观察到吸烟时相比，观察到吸烟时（9.3 与 6.3μg/m3，p =.002）的 PM2.5 水平高 1.5 倍。观察到吸烟距离和吸烟人数的剂量反应模式。对 220 名行人进行简短问卷调查（应答率为 81%），能够确定不同群体对 GM 无烟政策的支持情况（总体支持率为 55.9%，95%CI=49.3%-62.4%）存在差异。还确定了支持的原因，例如，感知到的健康危害占 34.1%，是主要原因。
这些方法可以提供信息，可能有助于无烟街道政策制定过程，也可能与其他无烟户外政策相关。
