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From 2005 to 2010, the California’s Clean Air Project (CCAP) worked statewide to provide technical assistance on all aspects of secondhand smoke (SHS ). Beginning July 2010, the project continued its work with a narrower focus on an area of critical need, SHS exposure in tribal casinos. This presentation will focus on the multitude of ways CCAP collected data at a tribal casino to demonstrate support for a smoke-free policy.
Methods
In collaboration with the manager at the tribal casino, a mixed methods approach was utilized for collecting local data to inform the tribal council on the state of smoking at the casino. A combination of scientific evidence (measurement of air quality), opinion polls (conducted with casino patrons, employees, Rancheria members and tribal council members), as well as observational counts of smoker density were conducted. The patron survey yielded 1,250 responses and the casino employee survey yielded 97 responses. To date this is the first permissible collection of data within a tribal entity in California.
Results
Just under half of the patrons (45%) indicated that they currently smoke. Almost two-thirds (63%) of patrons said they would frequent the casino “more often” or “about the same” if the casino was entirely smoke-free. As expected, non-smokers were almost unanimously in support of the smoke-free policy (95%), but almost one-quarter of the smokers also expressed support. Close to three-quarters (71%) of employees who completed the survey indicated that they were “very often or “sometimes” bothered by guests who smoke in their work area. Just over half (53%) indicated they would prefer to work in a smoke-free casino, while 30% indicated they had “no opinions.”
Air quality monitoring revealed that casino staff and patrons were exposed to high levels of PM2.5; peak levels were sometimes more than 10 times the EPA standard. Active smoker counts conducted during the same time period indicated that between 11% to 13% of the patrons actively smoked at any given time in the casino.
Conclusion
The translation of knowledge to policy in the arena of public health is always challenging, and even more so in the context of a tribal casino who are sovereign entities and therefore do not have to adhere to state laws regarding smoke-free workplaces in California. Tribal groups are also culturally and linguistically diverse. In our presentation, we will discuss the importance of collecting data with the permission and active participation of the tribal entity, how best to be culturally respectful in integrating context-sensitive evidence and local knowledge to effectively bring about the collection of localized data combined with facts to inform the policy making process at a tribal casino.