The smoking status and the perspective on Law No. 4207 of café, coffee-house, and restaurant owners on the busy streets of central district of Kars

Abstract

Aim: Making indoor environments 100% smoke-free is the only proven way to protect people from passive smoking. This study aimed to evaluate the smoking status of café, coffeehouse, and restaurant owners and their views on Law No. 4207, which prohibits tobacco use in indoor public spaces, considering sociodemographic variables and the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study population comprised 131 café, coffeehouse, and restaurant owners located on busy streets in the central district of Kars.

Results: 72 restaurants, 45 cafés, and 14 coffeehouses owners participated to the study. Among the employers don’t allow smoking in the indoor areas of their businesses is 82.4%. Among the 85 smokers, 65.9% did not feel compelled to smoke in prohibited areas, and 57.0% viewed the indoor smoking ban positively. Of the 125 business owners who reported financial loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, 61.6% cited the country's economic situation as the primary reason. In the logistic regression analysis showed that a positive view of the law was 2.69 times higher among employers with high school education or above compared to those with middle school education or lower (95% CI: 1.01-7.2, p=0.049), 3,96 times higher those who did not allow smoking indoors at their workplace compared to those who did (95% CI: 1.28-12.23, p=0.017), and 10.98 times higher among those who stated that the law did not cause financial loss compared to those who stated it did (95% CI: 3.34-36.07, p<0.001).

Conclusion: Most smoking business owners view Law No. 4207 positively, this indicating that the law is also embraced by smoking employers. The business owners’s identification of the country's economic situation as the main reason for financial loss during COVID-19 suggest that this factor could diminish the gains of Law No. 4207 and indicate the need for a more comprehensive tobacco control strategy.