Regulatory influences on health-related behaviours: The case of workplace smoking-bans

The findings of studies which show that workplace smoking bans result in changes in the behaviour and attitudes of smokers are discussed, that levels of acceptance of these regulations increase following their implementation, and that attitude changes seem to follow changes in behaviour are discussed.

Abstract

AbstractAbstractRecent community-wide health-promotion campaigns in Australia and other industrialised countries have been concerned with reducing cardiovascular disease and cancer risk, and have focused on such behaviours as cigarette smoking, dietary choices, and exercising. Psychological research on the modification of health-related behaviours has largely been concerned with individual learning and behaviour-change processes, emphasising an implicit sequence of providing information, promoting motivation, and facilitating behaviour change. But governments and public-health activists are now also sponsoring regulatory innovations which directly influence health-related behaviours. Bans on cigarette smoking in enclosed public places to protect the health of nonsmokers are an example of such regulatory innovations, and have recently been implemented in many public and private sector workplaces in Australia. We discuss the findings of studies which show that workplace smoking bans result in changes in the behaviour and attitudes of smokers, that levels of acceptance of these regulations increase following their implementation, and that attitude changes seem to follow changes in behaviour. We also consider some of the social and ethical issues which arise, and some of the more general implications for research on the relationships between regulatory innovations, behaviour change and attitude change in the preventive-health and environmental-protection areas.