Perceptions of University and College Presidents Regarding Tobacco-Free Campus Policies

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of college and university presidents with regard to tobacco-free campus policies. The specific aims of this investigation involved determining if presidents supported such policies, what barriers and benefits they perceived to implementing a tobacco-free campus policy, who presidents felt should have a role in establishing a policy, and what activities might help initiate a tobacco-free campus policy. A cross-sectional research design was utilized with randomly selected presidents from four-year higher education institutions. A total of 405 completed surveys were returned for a response rate of 51% (405/790).The majority of respondents were presidents or chancellors (78%). Additional characteristics included being white (88%), male (77%), a non-smoker (74%), and 61 years of age or younger (52%), with six or less years of experience at their current institution (54%). A majority (53%) of respondents indicated their institution was either in the Action or Maintenance stage with the Stages of Change theory. The most commonly selected tobacco prevention initiative presidents’ were taking included appointing a campus wide task force addressing tobacco that was composed of administrators, faculty, staff and students (39%) followed by ensuring resources were budgeted to address tobacco related issues on campus (34%). The vast majority of presidents (90%) indicated they agreed or strongly agreed that advocacy by campus groups is necessary to establish a tobacco-free campus policy.Overall, the most commonly identified support barrier was “lack of a point person to champion the cause,” with 37% of respondents selecting this as either a moderate or major barrier to implementing a tobacco-free campus policy at their institution. The most commonly identified institutional barrier selected was “enforcement issues” (68%). In examining benefits presidents’ perceived if a policy was established on their campus, two items were most frequently selected: “minimizes secondhand smoke exposure” (81%) and “reduces prevalence of tobacco on campus” (81%).Differences emerged between institutions with a policy compared to those without an established policy. Specifically, presidents at institutions with a tobacco-free campus policy were over two times more likely to believe advocacy by campus groups was necessary to establish a policy (OR = 2.44; 95% CI 1.34 – 4.48), five times more likely to indicate less support barriers (OR = 5.25; 95% CI 3.32 – 8.32), and five times more likely to select less institutional barriers (OR = 4.80; 95% CI 2.97 – 7.77). Perceived benefits to establishing a policy did not differ by policy type.Presidents most commonly identified themselves (86%) as having a moderate or major role in establishing a tobacco-free campus policy followed by student affairs (77%) and study body (77%). When presidents were asked to determine how likely preselected activities may be in initiating a tobacco-free campus policy, the most commonly selected response dealt with creating drafts of potential policies for review (80%) and designating a committee for this task (79%).Results are encouraging for tobacco-free advocates pursuing policies on college campuses. Advocacy appears to be a necessary action in order to establish a policy and advocates would likely benefit from focusing on solutions to perceived barriers as opposed to educating on the benefits of such policies.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Health Education

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Toledo

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Reindl, Diana M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Glassman, Tavis

• Health Education
• Tobacco-Free
• College
• University
• President

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1363093640

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:toledo1363093640