Implementation Activities in Smoke-Free Public Housing: The Massachusetts Experience

Boram Lee, Vicki Fung, David Cheng, Jonathan P. Winickoff, Nancy A. Rigotti, Radhika Shah, Claire McGlave, Sydney Goldberg, Glory Song, Jacqueline Doane, Melody Kingsley, Patricia Henley, Sanouri Ursprung, Christopher Banthin and Douglas E. Levy ()
Additional contact information
Boram Lee: Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Vicki Fung: Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
David Cheng: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Jonathan P. Winickoff: Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Nancy A. Rigotti: Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Radhika Shah: Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Claire McGlave: School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Sydney Goldberg: Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Glory Song: Office of Statistics and Evaluation, Bureau of Community Health and Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, MA 02108, USA
Jacqueline Doane: Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program, Bureau of Community Health and Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, MA 02108, USA
Melody Kingsley: Office of Statistics and Evaluation, Bureau of Community Health and Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, MA 02108, USA
Patricia Henley: Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program, Bureau of Community Health and Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, MA 02108, USA
Sanouri Ursprung: Office of Statistics and Evaluation, Bureau of Community Health and Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, MA 02108, USA
Christopher Banthin: Public Health Advocacy Institute, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Douglas E. Levy: Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: A 2018 rule requiring federally-subsidized public housing authorities (PHAs) in the United States to adopt smoke-free policies (SFPs) has sparked interest in how housing agencies can best implement SFPs. However, to date, there is little quantitative data on the implementation of SFPs in public housing. Massachusetts PHAs were among the pioneers of SFPs in public housing, and many had instituted SFPs voluntarily prior to the federal rule. The aim of this study was to examine the adoption, implementation, and outcomes of SFPs instituted in Massachusetts PHAs prior to 2018 using a survey conducted that year. The survey asked if PHAs had SFPs and, if so, what activities were used to implement them: providing information sessions, offering treatment or referral for smoking cessation, soliciting resident input, training staff, partnering with outside groups, using a toolkit, and/or providing outdoor smoking areas. We used multivariable regression to investigate associations between implementation activities and respondent-reported policy outcomes (resident support, complaints about neighbors’ smoking, and the number of violations reported per year). Of 238 Massachusetts PHAs, 218 (91%) completed the survey and 161 had an SFP prior to 2018. Common implementation activities were offering smoking cessation treatment/referral (89%) and information sessions for residents (85%). Information sessions for residents were associated with higher resident support (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 4.3; 95%CI 1.2–15.3). Training staff (AOR 6.3, 95%CI 1.2–31.8) and engaging in ≥5 implementation activities (AOR 4.1, 95%CI 1.2–14.1) were associated with fewer smoking-related complaints. Utilization of multiple implementation activities, especially ones that informed residents and trained PHA staff, was associated with more favorable policy outcomes. We identified five groups of PHAs that shared distinct patterns of SFP implementation activities. Our findings, documenting implementation activities and their associations with SFP outcomes among the early adopters of SPFs in Massachusetts public housing, can help inform best practices for the future implementation of SFPs in multiunit housing.

Keywords: tobacco control; health policy; smoke-free policy; secondhand smoke; low income populations; public housing; implementation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/78/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/78/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:78-:d:1010089

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().