Abstract

Objective: Tobacco-free policies are being rapidly adopted nationwide, yet compliance with these policies remains a challenge. This study explored college campus key informants' experiences with tobacco policies, and their perceived benefits, drawbacks, and outcomes. Participants: The sample for this study was 68 key informants representing 16 different California universities with varying tobacco policies (no smoking indoors and within 20 feet of entrances, designated smoking areas, 100% smoke-free, and 100% tobacco-free). Methods: Qualitative, descriptive study. Semistructured interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using content analysis. Results: Strategies to improve compliance ranged from a social approach to a heavy focus on punitive enforcement. Key informants from campuses using a social approach alone reported barriers to improving compliance, including a perceived lack of efficacy of the approach. However, these campuses found it challenging to incorporate enforcement through campus police or security. Conclusions: College campus decision makers should explore using a combined approach (social approach as well as formal enforcement), with enforcement primarily the responsibility of nonpolice university channels (eg, Student Affairs, employee supervisors).

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-18-2016

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Journal of American College Health, v. 65, issue 2, p. 122130.

© 2017 Taylor & Francis

The copyright holder has granted the permission for posting the article here.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of American College Health on 18 Dec 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/07448481.2016.1262380.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2016.1262380

Funding Information

This work was funded by UC Tobacco Related Disease Research Program grant 22FT-0069 and National Cancer Institute grant CA-06021.

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