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The present research has three goals: to examine the prevalence of smoke‐free workplace policies; to examine how coverage by a smoke‐free workplace policy differs among racial/ethnic groups; and to examine the impact of smoke‐free workplace policy (SFWP) coverage on health outcomes.

The research uses secondary analysis of data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 1998‐2006.

It was found that SFWP coverage is below government goals – especially for Hispanic workers and that SFWP coverage was associated with health outcomes.

The relatively slow progress in coverage by smoke‐free workplace policies during the last eight years suggests the possibility that a ceiling has been reached in smoke‐free workplace policy coverage. Limitations include factors that might negatively influence SFWP reporting (e.g. lack of knowledge about SFWP; language barriers), availability of data after 2006, and a cross‐sectional design for health outcomes.

The findings suggest that there is health value in SFWP, but that coverage is not at 100 percent and a federal‐level mandate might be necessary to reach that level. In situations where customers are allowed to smoke, it may be more difficult to justify and enforce a smoke‐free workplace policy.

This is the first study to examine SFWP coverage by race over time. This study allows for examination of progress toward published SFWP goals.

Although the threat of protest may be a barrier toward implementing a tobacco policy on college campuses in the USA, the prevalence and severity of such opposition has yet to be investigated. The purpose of this paper was to determine how often campus communities protest against smoke-free policies and rate the disruptiveness of the protests.

Researchers located and analyzed news reports regarding 21 protests over newly implemented or proposed policies on college campuses in the USA.

Protests over college campus smoking policies are typically non-disruptive and consist of a small group of students who publicly smoke tobacco products and attempt to gain support of fellow students.

Those advocating for campus tobacco policies should be aware that the campus community may protest, but that a heightened concern of a protest's effect on the campus community may be unfounded.

To authors’ knowledge, research studies regarding opposition to anti-tobacco policies cannot be found in the literature. This paper may be used as a practical resource by advocates to educate campus administrators about the low turnout and lack of severity of any possible protest to a new campus tobacco policy.

The purpose of this study is to examine a Midwest university in North America over a one‐year period on current smoking policies and programs, student support for implementing additional smoking policies, and to produce a follow‐up report on supporting policies that were approved by administration.

The researchers used a convenience sample from a four‐year public university located in the Midwestern USA. A four‐year public university is a publicly funded institution of higher learning awarding baccalaureate, Master's and doctoral degrees. Data were collected from administrators (n=6) and on Assessment Day of all freshmen (n=1,743) and juniors (n=643) at the university. Data were collected through document mining, a survey instrument, interviewing, and observation. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize frequency data for this study.

The data produced some interesting findings. First, the study provided college administrators with a model to follow in moving forward in developing policies for their students, faculty and staff. Second, the study offered support for implementing practical policies which may save the universities money, while protecting students, faculty, and staff from harmful environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Finally, the study addresses the need of the university to implement and enforce policies on campus that will embrace tobacco control.

The implications of this study are that other universities may utilize the steps involved in this study to move forward in developing policies for their employees, universities may utilize this information by stressing that students are less likely to begin smoking if the university or campus offers smoke‐free resident halls and apartments, and fire safety is increased by banning smoking in resident halls and apartments.

Embraces more comprehensively than previously the situation, treatment and future research regarding smoking among college students in the USA.

Examines the impact of restricting tobacco smoking in the Australian hospitality industry. Recent Australian legislation has demonstrated strong support for the rights of individuals to a smoke‐free environment in public places. Describes a study undertaken in 1990, and repeated in 1992, to assess patrons′ attitudes to smoking in restaurants. Discusses the implications of the results for the hospitality industry.

Scotland's smoke‐free legislation, introduced in March 2006, included an exemption for psychiatric hospitals. However, following the successful implementation of smoke‐free laws in almost all other workplaces in Scotland, important questions have been raised about why mental health facilities should be excluded. This study aimed to explore a move towards mental health settings becoming smoke‐free in Scotland by reviewing relevant literature, seeking the views of stakeholders and examining a number of case study hospitals who had recently or were in the process of going smoke‐free. The study found that stakeholders were overwhelmingly in favour of moving towards smoke‐free environments. Allowing smoking to continue in these settings when almost all other workplaces are smoke‐free was perceived as reinforcing the stigma attached to mental health, exacerbating inequalities in health, damaging the health of mental health professionals and potentially contributing to staff recruitment problems. Evidence from the international literature and from the case studies suggested that smoke‐free policies can be successfully implemented in mental health settings. This article discusses these findings and examines the factors that need to be considered if implementation is to be successful.

This paper aims to examine the level of smoke‐free policies in general hospitals and the barriers faced in implementing restrictive policies banning smoking inside buildings and on surrounding grounds.

A survey was developed to gather data on hospitals' current smoke‐free policies, including the challenges faced when implementing such a policy or the barriers to implementing one. The surveys were directed to the chief executive officers (CEOs) of Alabama general hospitals. Responses from 47 hospital CEOs, representing 46.5 percent of the total population were obtained.

Over one‐quarter of respondents were found to have restrictive smoke‐free policies. Of this group, over one‐third experienced a hostile response from employees that smoked. Nearly 85 percent indicated that they made smoking cessation resources available to their employees. Of those that did not have a restrictive smoke‐free policy, fear of employee and patient backlash was cited as the most common deterrent against implementing such a policy.

Studies show that restrictive smoke‐free workplace policies have altered employees' smoking prevalence and consumption. Given the recent reports on the dangers of secondhand smoke, hospitals should reduce the risk of exposure to secondhand smoke for employees, patients, and visitors. Furthermore, restrictive smoke‐free policies may help to increase hospitals' bottom line.

A study examining restrictive smoke‐free policies in general hospitals and challenges faced in implementing such policies is absent from the literature. Identifying the barriers faced may help health care facilities to avoid or overcome these barriers when implementing such policies. The paper addresses the issues involved.

This paper examines the effect of lockdown on a firm's financial performance. The authors aim to fill in the debate over the corporate world's repercussions from governments' COVID-19 response. Therefore, it is imperative to understand what effect the lockdown policy has on firm financial performance.

The study data are cross-sectional, covering a sample of 246 listed firms in Indonesia. The lockdown policy and period data were retrieved from the Indonesian Ministry of Health COVID-19 special task force website. The authors’ empirical model for performance specification is based on annual data, following a common performance function in economics and finance literature. In addition to controlling for the standard error and province effect, the authors also controlled the COVID-19 cases and the province effect.

The lockdown deteriorates the firm's profitability, but it is not up to making the firms at financial distress level. Simply put, lockdown erodes the profitability significantly, leading to declining performance; however, it does not mean the firms generate default.

Several shortcomings in the authors’ empirical setup need to be tackled for future research. For example, the study findings may limit the short-run effect but not the long-run effect (5–10 years after the pandemic). The findings also do not give room to justify that lockdown should not be imposed due to its deteriorating effect on the corporate world. Therefore, the authors leave this as a scope for future research.

This research is among the pioneer papers evaluating the effect of the government policy for mitigating the repercussions of COVID-19, and it reveals how this policy affects corporations.

The purpose of this study is to review the barriers associated with implementing a campus‐wide smoke‐free policy as perceived by the American Cancer Society's Colleges against Cancer (CAC) Program chapter representatives.

Four focus group sessions were conducted at the annual CAC National Leadership Summit in October 2006. A total of 109 participants, or 41.4 percent of the total population of CAC member institutions, attended the focus groups.

All participants identified encountering barriers at some stage of the implementation process. Three major themes emerged when participants were asked to identify what they perceived to be the most significant barriers to successfully implementing a campus‐wide smoke‐free policy: lack of administrative and staff support, student involvement, and resources.

With the rising rate of smoking among college students and the release of the 2006 Surgeon General's report citing the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, the need for colleges and universities to take measures not only to curtail the number of smokers, but to limit the exposure to secondhand smoke is intensifying.

A study examining the challenges faced by colleges and universities when trying to implement a campus‐wide smoke‐free policy is absent from the literature. The paper helps in identifying the most significant barriers that may encourage efforts among colleges and universities to lessen or eliminate these barriers.

To reduce the smoking rates and alleviate societal problems associated with smoking, health administrators and policy makers have attempted to promote and implement statewide smoking free policy. The present study examined how adults' awareness of and attitude toward the smoke-free air law, their perceived risks of secondhand smoke and current smoking status were associated with smoking attitude and behaviors.

As part of the Indiana Adult Tobacco Survey, 2,027 respondents participated in cross-sectional telephone surveys. A series of independent sample t-test and binary logistic regression analyses were performed.

Awareness of the state law was inversely related to negative attitude toward smoking behaviors. Individuals who reported favorable attitude toward the state smoke-free air law and higher risk perceptions of secondhand smoke showed negative attitude toward smoking behaviors. Non-smokers and former smokers were significantly different from current smokers with regard to attitude toward smoking. Negative attitude was significantly related to intention to quit smoking. Awareness of the state law, perceived risk and current smoking status were key determinants for anti-smoking attitude and behavior.

Findings highlight the importance of effective dissemination of the state law and recommend a strategic intervention design that invokes risk perceptions of secondhand smoke.

The study evaluated the impact on staff and patient advocates of the implementation of a smoke‐free policy covering buildings and grounds within a mental health trust. Findings show that early consultation is central to the ownership of smoke‐free policies. The degree of success of the implementation of the policy was variable and depended on the availability of tobacco and the type of mental health unit, but the smoke‐free policy provided an opportunity to reduce smoking and hence health inequalities for people with mental health problems.