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The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research

Published in:

01-01-2007 | Regular Article

Effects of a Tobacco Ban on Long-term Psychiatric Patients

Authors: Grant T. Harris, PhD, Daniel Parle, Joseph Gagné

Published in: The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research | Issue 1/2007

Abstract

A total ban on all tobacco products was implemented in a diverse psychiatric institution. A post hoc evaluation examined the effect of the ban on long-term patients by comparing their characteristics the year before the ban to the year after. Several variables measuring physical health, psychiatric symptomatology, feelings of well-being, and interpersonal conflict were coded with very high reliability from health records. For the majority of patients who were in the maximum security forensic division, the tobacco ban was associated with almost no detectable ill effects with some clear benefits. Among the remainder of the long-term patients, the ban might have been associated with a temporary increase in physical aggression towards staff members. It was concluded that successful implementation, and the avoidance of ill effects, depended entirely on the success staff members had in actually preventing patient access to tobacco.

A 7-week strike by frontline clinical staff and support workers ended exactly 1 year before the implementation of the tobacco ban. Perhaps the spikes in these measures were related to the disruptions caused by the strike and its immediate aftermath.

Several hypotheses might be entertained—perhaps, dose increased because patients’ weight increased, or perhaps physicians increased doses in anticipation of the tobacco ban because they predicted that patients would experience withdrawal-related agitation, even though the present data indicate that this increase in agitation did not occur. Future studies are encouraged to test these possibilities.

A subsidiary examination for short-term patients coded every incident report on the nonforensic ward with the most acute and transient patients 1 year before and 1 year after the tobacco ban. There were fewer incidents recorded in the year after than in the year before, even though the year after had more patient-days. No trend indicated that the ban was associated with an increase in incidents. Incidents involving assaultive behavior declined, and no incident category increased. Incidents attributed to tobacco increased, but in the context of a greater drop in incidents involving all other causes. No evidence supported the hypothesis that the ban caused a worsening of staff–patient conflict on this short-term ward. More details about this subsidiary test are available from the authors.

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Title: Effects of a Tobacco Ban on Long-term Psychiatric Patients
Authors: Grant T. Harris, PhD
Daniel Parle
Joseph Gagné
Publication date: 01-01-2007
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research / Issue 1/2007
Print ISSN: 1094-3412
Electronic ISSN: 2168-6793
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-006-9043-1

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Effects of a Tobacco Ban on Long-term Psychiatric Patients

Abstract

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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