It has been done elsewhere, it can be done everywhere. Impact of smoke-free legislation on smoking

Exposure to tobacco smoke from others (second-hand smoking) is dangerous for non-smokers. To protect them from these risks, many countries have implemented smoke-free legislation that bans smoking in indoor workplaces and public places. We examined the impact of smoke-free legislation on smokers instead of nonsmokers in this thesis. The expectation is that the largest public health gain from smoke-free legislation comes from the effect on smokers. This effect can set a flywheel in motion that eventually causes smoking to reduce further and further. This thesis mainly focused on the impact of the implementation of smoke-free hospitality industry legislation in the Netherlands in July 2008. It was unknown in 2008 whether smoke-free legislation in the hospitality industry had a similar impact on the population as smoke-free legislation in workplaces. We also did not know enough about differences in impact between comprehensive and partial smoke-free legislation and between smoke-free legislation and other tobacco control policies. Furthermore, it was unclear how smoke-free legislation influenced smoking cessation. Finally, more research was needed on unintended consequences of smoke-free legislation on smoking in smokers' homes, perceived stigmatisation of smokers, and socioeconomic inequalities in smoking.
For this thesis, we mostly used data from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project). ITC is an international survey study among smokers and is currently conducted in 20 countries. The methods of the ITC Netherlands Project are described in chapter 2.