Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Cognizance and social attitudes regarding tobacco control laws in and around educational institutions of Nellore city, India

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Deepthi Athuluru
. Chandrasekhara Reddy
. K. M. Sudhir, Krishna Kumar
. Sreenivasulu Gomasani
. Sreenivas Nagarakanti

Periodontics, Narayana Dental College and Hospital, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Indian national law namely Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA)
exists since 2003 and aims at protecting all the people in our country, but smoking is still prevalent
among people. This study was aimed to assess awareness, attitudes, and practices regarding
prohibition of sale of tobacco products near educational institutions of Nellore city, India.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A  descriptive cross‑sectional study was conducted in degree
colleges of Nellore city of Andhra Pradesh. The study population includes institutional personnel
(student, teaching staff, nonteaching staff, and workers) of selected degree colleges of Nellore city.
A structured questionnaire was designed for this study which was validated by Davis criteria; reliability
was assessed by test–retest design. The questionnaire was divided into five parts consisting of
demographic details (age and gender), smoking behavior, knowledge about tobacco control laws,
attitudes toward the law and policies, and practices followed in the institution. Logistic regression
analysis was used to find out the association between different independent variables to tobacco
usage among institutional personnel.
RESULTS: Among the study population (n = 400 [100%]), 75.8% of the teaching staff do not know
that there should be a board in the institution saying that “sale of tobacco product in an area within
the radius of 100 m of educational institution is strictly prohibited,” 82.2% of the study population were
not aware to whom should they report, 96.3% of the study population accepted that strict execution
of COTPA law saves life, the participants who answered no to strict implementation of COTPA law,
and to punish the person who is violating the COTPA law are susceptible to 0.28, and 0.14 times
greater odds to be a smokeless tobacco user, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The study concluded that there was lack of knowledge about smoke‑free legislation
among the study population and a high support for strict implementation of COTPA.

Keywords

Cigarette products
legislation
public opinion
smokers
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 8, Issue 10
October 2018
Pages 1-8

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