Smoking at home, even on the balcony, the gallery or in the kitchen with the door closed, implies spreading harmful substances derived from the combustion of tobacco throughout all the rooms, even in the children’s rooms, according to the verifications on nicotine concentration. The Smoke-Free Homes project, research promoted by the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), in collaboration with student parents’ associations, aims to make smokers aware of the need to go out to preserve the health of those who live with them.

“The change we want is for homes where smoking is stopped. 30% of families smoke, many have decided not to smoke at home. It can be used when the garbage is taken out, when we take the dog for a walk or when we go shopping”. This argument corresponds to Esteve Fernández, head of the ICO Tobacco Control unit.

The research is based on an experience carried out in the US (through the hope telephone line) but adapted to the Catalan reality, with the participants recruited through the federations of student parents’ associations: aFFaC (public) and Capac (arranged). Four weeks ago, a pilot test (in which nicotine concentrations are measured) began, with the participation of 40 families, to obtain a photograph of the mechanics and possible results of the test, which will be launched in October.

Four hundred homes in Barcelona and the first metropolitan area will undergo the investigation. Half, the control group, will do so in a non-intensive way, consisting of receiving a simple information brochure from the Department of Health with the steps to achieve it and the benefits of quitting smoking at home.

The other half will receive information material at least four times and will have a personalized conversation with a specialist during the transition process. After six months, the researchers will check whether the rules of the home have changed in each case. “We seek to empower families who want to make a change in their behavior at home. From the outset, we don’t want people to stop smoking, but rather that they don’t smoke at home because of the problems that we know it entails for the rest of the people who live together, especially children”, explains Fernández.

In the format that has been proposed, the experience is unprecedented. In the US version, 45% of participants converted to smoke-free homes. Specialists point out that this has a significant impact on the health of non-smokers, who are protected from “massive exposure to tobacco smoke”. Secondly, Fernández highlights two positive side effects: “Smokers who sign up and avoid smoking at home realize that they can stay without smoking for longer, which has a similar effect to the ban on smoking in the workplace , which for many has meant a first step towards quitting tobacco”. On the other hand, it is possible that the rule also applies to the car. Many people smoke in the private vehicle, where the intensity of exposure is incredibly high. “The concentrations of particles and nicotine inside cars exceed those of bars and nightclubs when smoking was allowed in them,” says the head of the ICO unit.

According to the researchers, the knowledge of the good that smokers can do to the rest of the family is an incentive to quit smoking at home. “This way of ‘touching the fiber’, to call it that, has been seen to be effective,” says Fernández: “It is a small change in behavior that is more feasible than quitting tobacco. Although we know that 50% of smokers think about quitting, this is more complicated. The first step is to keep the people you love away from smoke.”

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