Abstract:
This study aimed to (1) evaluate the existing resources for tobacco control in Pattani Province (2) investigate law perception, attitude and awareness of second hand smokers and policy for smoke-free public places (3) evaluate compliance with smoke-free laws of people in Pattani province (4) evaluate consumption of imported Malaysian tobacco in Pattani Province and (5) identify factors associated with compliance with smoke-free laws. A cross-sectional study design was carried out. Data were collected from 5 groups including general population, entrepreneurs, government officers, students and religious or community leaders. There were two phases of data collection from all districts in Pattani province. In the first phase, a total of 1,762 subjects were interviewed during October 2011 to March 2012. A total of 2,009 subjects were interviewed during February to April 2013 for the second phase. Thirty personnel working in tobacco control were in-depth interviewed. Guideline for in-depth interview, structure questionnaire and observational checklist were used for this study. Descriptive analysis was performed including percentage, mean and standard deviation. Chi-square test was used to identify factors associated with compliance with smoke-free laws. Multivariate analysis was performed by using logistic regression. Content analysis was performed for qualitative data. The results from the first phase showed that the average age of subjects was 28.4 +- 13.7 years, 24.5% were current smokers and 7.7% were ex-smokers. The average age of first smoking experience was 17.1 +- 4.7 years and average age of regular smoking was 18.9 +- 5.5 years. Smoking Thai, Malaysian, hand-rolled cigarette and chewing tobacco accounted for 65.2%, 38%, 42% and 38.3%, respectively. The smokers observed smoking ban sign before smoking 86.5%. 79.3% of smokers reported not smoking when they had seen smoking ban sign. The highest perception of smoke-free public place was hospital accounted for 74.4% followed by school accounted for 64.4%. Market had the lowest perception as smoke-free public place accounted for 21.7%. The highest perception of tobacco control laws was prohibiting of selling cigarette to children aged less than 18 years law accounted for 82.7% followed by 2,000 Baht fine for smoking in smoke-free public place law accounted for 77.4%. The highest perception of smoking effect on health status was causing lung cancer accounted for 93.4% followed by causing bad breath accounted for 92.2%. 87.2% of subjects agreed with the law of health protection of non-smoker and 86.5% agreed of promoting smoke-free areas. The multivariate results showed that that the violation of smoke-free law was associated with perception of smoke-free public places, perception of tobacco control laws and attitude on smoke-free law. The results from the second phase revealed that the average age of subjects was 28.2 +- 13.0 years, 26.4 % were current smokers and 5.3 % were ex-smokers. The average age of first smoking experience was 17.2 +- 4.9 years and average age of regular smoking was 18.9 +- 5.2 years. Smoking Thai, Malaysian, hand-rolled cigarette and chewing tobacco accounted for 70.6 %, 42.4%, 44.6% and 43.8%, respectively. The smokers observed smoking ban sign before smoking 82.8%. There were 70% of smokers reported not smoking when they had seen smoking ban sign. The highest perception of smoke-free public place was hospital accounted for 69.9% followed by school accounted for 62.7%. Market had the lowest perception as smoke-free public place accounted for 26%. The highest perception of tobacco control laws prohibiting of selling cigarette to children aged less than 18 years law accounted for 78.1% followed by 2,000 Baht fine for smoking in smoke-free public place law accounted for 74.5%. The highest perception of smoking effect on health status was causing lung cancer accounted for 90.8% followed by causing bad breath accounted for 89%. There were 86.3% of subjects agreed with the law of health protection of non-smoker with the same percent as agreed of promoting smoke-free areas. The multivariate results showed that the violation of smoke-free law was associated with district, perception of smoke-free public place and perception of smoking effect on health status. The multivariate results from the combination of both surveys data showed that the violation of smoke-free law was associated with year of survey, district, income and perception of smoke-free public place. The in-depth interview results showed that working on tobacco control was supported by their institutes. However there was no specific budget for tobacco control. Low smoke-free laws enforcement and law violation of people were reported. Lack of working as networking was also the main problem.
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