Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior in Avoiding Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Non-Smoking Employed Women with Higher Education in Jordan

Huda Gharaibeh, Linda Haddad, Sukaina Alzyoud, Omar El-Shahawy, Nesrin Abu Baker and Mary Umlauf
Additional contact information
Huda Gharaibeh: School of Nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid, Postal Code 22110, Jordan
Linda Haddad: Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, School of Nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA
Sukaina Alzyoud: School of Nursing, Hashemite University, Amman, Postal Code 13133, Jordan
Omar El-Shahawy: General Medical Management, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Postal Code 11355, Egypt
Nesrin Abu Baker: School of Nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid, Postal Code 22110, Jordan
Mary Umlauf: School of Nursing, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA

IJERPH, 2011, vol. 8, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is a serious public health threat worldwide; in the developing world there are less serious efforts towards controlling women’s and children’s exposure to SHS. Knowledge, attitudes and avoidance practices among Jordanian women have never been thoroughly studied. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and avoidance behavior towards SHS exposure among employed Jordanian women with higher education. Methods : A survey was conducted among employed Jordanian women at two universities. A total of 209 women were included in the analysis. Two questionnaires regarding SHS exposure were used to measure knowledge, attitudes and avoidance practices. Results : Most respondents were regularly exposed to SHS in various locations during daily life, even though they were very knowledgeable about the dangers of SHS exposure for women and children. However, the subject’s attitudes and avoidance behavior did not reflect the level of knowledge about SHS risks. The results suggests there is a large discrepancy between SHS exposure, knowledge, attitudes and avoidance behavior among highly educated Jordanian women that is likely influenced by culture and traditional gender roles. Public health initiatives are needed in Jordan to address public policy, institutional practices and to empowerment of women to reduce SHS exposure.

Keywords: secondhand smoke; Jordan; higher education; women; socioeconomic status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/11/4207/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/11/4207/ (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:8:y:2011:i:11:p:4207-4219:d:14738

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 ().