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• New Analysis: Women Of Low Socio-Economic Status Face Unique Challenges Related To Smoking, Smoking Ban Policies 

Smoking bans, while a necessary and positive trend for reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, have some unintended consequences--especially for women. The August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine includes a special supplement, Unintended Consequences of Tobacco Policies, a compilation of nine original, peer-reviewed articles focused on examining these unique challenges related to a smoking stigma, childcare and personal safety.

According to the report, low-income women who live in urban areas may have safety concerns about going outside to smoke when smoking indoors isn't permitted. Moreover, childcare and adequate child supervision may be a concern when they go outside their homes in order to avoid exposing their children to secondhand smoke. The reports go on to find that many women of low socio-economic status feel an increased stigma associated with smoking, more so than their more advantaged counterparts. This stigma often leaves mothers in this category with a label of being "bad mothers" and thus, cause additional unintended consequences including resistance to seeking out help in quitting from healthcare providers.

"Women of low socio-economic status have elevated challenges across-the-board when it comes to smoking and access to quit-smoking resources," said Dr. Pebbles Fagan, Health Scientist, Tobacco Research Branch, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute. "Unfortunately, the articles in this issue find that this group also faces a unique set of consequences related to the evolving policy context of smoking worldwide."

The American Legacy Foundation(R), the National Cancer Institute and the National Cancer Institute's Office of Science Planning and Assessment co-sponsored the supplement. . . .

Remedies in the supplement's forward are proposed for practitioners to help reduce the unintended burden on the population groups outlined:

-- Ensure that secondhand smoke-related messages target PARENTS, not just mothers, and are delivered in culturally appropriate ways

-- Focus smoking-cessation messages to an individual woman's health, as well as the health of her children and family

-- Build acceptance and trust within the patient-provider relationship to facilitate treatment initiation among women and mothers who smoke

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