Tobacco Control (a high impact international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and others in tobacco control) published the research paper “Attitudes, practices and beliefs towards worksite smoking among administrators of private and public enterprises in Armenia” authored by Narine Movsisyan MD, MPH, Michael Thompson MS, DrPH, and Varduhi Petrosyan, MS, PhD, on June 15, 2010 in its Online First edition. This research explored smoking-related policies, and the attitudes and beliefs of worksite managers and administrators toward those policies, at public and private worksites in three major cities in Armenia.
This paper is one of the first studies to investigate smoking-related worksite practices, attitudes, and beliefs in former soviet countries. The findings provide insight into law enforcement processes in economies in transition and suggest strategies for strengthening smoke-free policies. According to lead author Dr. Movsisyan, “This article is important to our understanding of worksite smoking not only in Armenia, but also in former soviet countries in general, where w orkplace smoking is a significant problem.”
Dr. Thompson noted, “The results suggest that civil law enforcement processes in formerly soviet countries likely differ from those in industrialized countries, where smoke-free regulations are generally successfully self-enforced.
The American University of Armenia Center for Health Services Research and Development continues its active involvement in tobacco control efforts, through research, applied projects and advocacy, trying to minimize the exposure to second hand smoke in public buildings and homes in close collaboration with international organizations, including the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Harvard School of Public Health Tobacco Control Research Program, American Cancer Society, Cancer Research UK, Framework Convention Alliance, Open Society Institute, and others.
This study was carried out with support from Research for International Tobacco Control and the International Development Research Center in Ottawa, Canada, supported by the Canadian Tobacco Control Research Initiative and the American Cancer Society.
The article is available at http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2010/06/14/tc.2009.031658