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Proposal for smoke-free public housing: a systematic review of attitudes and preferences from residents of multi-unit housing

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Abstract

A policy proposal to ban public housing smoking indoors has received support, but it is unclear how certain affected groups, specifically smokers in housing units, perceive such a policy. To review the literature on attitudes and perceptions of housing unit tenants towards an indoor smoke-free housing policy, using various databases, we searched articles for attitudes towards smoking ban enforcement in housing units. We identified fourteen articles. Non-smokers heavily favored indoor policies and current smokers heavily opposed them. Current smokers represented a substantial minority in the reviewed articles, resulting in overall outcomes of the surveys driven by non-smokers. Studies investigating attitudes about housing smoking bans largely represent the views of non-smokers and lack data about barriers and concerns of tenants who do not support a smoke-free policy. Future studies should investigate if such a discrepancy impacts the efficacy of smoke-free housing policies.

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Correspondence to Panagis Galiatsatos.

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Galiatsatos, P., Koehl, R., Caufield-Noll, C. et al. Proposal for smoke-free public housing: a systematic review of attitudes and preferences from residents of multi-unit housing. J Public Health Pol 41, 496–514 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-020-00236-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-020-00236-z

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