Smoking policy fears not justified

Although mental health units in England have faced challenges introducing smoke-free policies, most seem to be happy with the results. Writing in the British Journal of Psychiatry, UK researchers interviewed (non-clinical) representatives from 72 National Health Services providing mental health in-patient facilities. An earlier report from the study had shown that while all of the facilities had implemented smoke-free policies, 37% did not include policies for both buildings and grounds, 78% allowed some exemptions to the policy and 37% reported that infringements to the policy occurred daily. Despite this, the researchers said that the policy was described as “positive overall” with 92% rating it as quite or very successful. “Beneficial impacts cited mainly related to reduced exposure to tobacco smoke [and] enhanced motivation of patients to stop smoking,” the study’s authors said. “Interestingly, several interview respondents could report behavioural changes… for example related to [improved] sleeping habits. Changes were also apparent where the closure of smoking rooms had resulted in the creation of health-promoting recreational spaces,” they added. While over 90% of respondents felt that there would be “specific problems” in implementing smoke-free policies in psychiatric settings, such as increasing risk of violence, many found that these fears proved unfounded. In fact, the authors said that none of the interview subjects could cite examples to justify the fears they had raised. However, there were some difficulties implementing the policies. Many staff reported that it was only possible to ban smoking inside their facilities because there was space available outside to smoke. Furthermore over half the respondents reported that the level of support for the policy varied between staff, with nurses identified as the least supportive (32%)....