Instituting a smoke-free policy for city recreation centers and playgrounds, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2010

In the United States, more than 600 municipalities have smoke-free parks, and more than 100 have smoke-free beaches. Nevertheless, adoption of outdoor smoke-free policies has been slow in certain regions. Critical to widespread adoption is the sharing of knowledge about the policy development and im...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Preventing chronic disease Vol. 10; p. E116
Main Authors:	Leung, Raymond, Mallya, Giridhar, Dean, Lorraine T, Rizvi, Amna, Dignam, Leo, Schwarz, Donald F
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 11-07-2013
Series:	Peer Reviewed
Subjects:	Adult chronic disease Community Case Study Health Promotion - legislation & jurisprudence Humans Philadelphia Play and Playthings Public Facilities - legislation & jurisprudence Public Policy - legislation & jurisprudence smoke-free parks smoke-free policies Smoke-Free Policy - legislation & jurisprudence Smoking - legislation & jurisprudence Smoking Prevention tobacco control
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Summary:	In the United States, more than 600 municipalities have smoke-free parks, and more than 100 have smoke-free beaches. Nevertheless, adoption of outdoor smoke-free policies has been slow in certain regions. Critical to widespread adoption is the sharing of knowledge about the policy development and implementation process. In this article, we describe our experience in making City of Philadelphia recreation centers and playgrounds smoke-free. Of the 10 largest US cities, Philadelphia has among the highest rates of adult and youth smoking. Our objectives for an outdoor smoke-free policy included protecting against secondhand smoke, supporting a normative message that smoking is harmful, motivating smokers to quit, and mitigating tobacco-related sanitation costs. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Department of Parks and Recreation engaged civic leaders, agency staff, and community stakeholders in the following steps: 1) making the policy case, 2) vetting policy options and engaging stakeholders, and 3) implementing policy. Near-term policy impacts were assessed through available data sources. More than 220 recreation centers, playgrounds, and outdoor pools became smoke-free through a combined mayoral executive order and agency regulation. Support for the policy was high. Estimates suggest a policy reach of 3.6 million annual visitors and almost 850 acres of new smoke-free municipal property. Localities can successfully implement outdoor smoke-free policies with careful planning and execution. Such policies hold great potential for reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, promoting nonsmoking norms, and providing additional motivation for residents to quit smoking.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1545-1151 1545-1151
DOI:	10.5888/pcd10.120294