Recommendations for Tobacco Control on Post-Secondary Cam­puses that are Geographically Isolated

Background: Many Ontarians continue to report exposure to second-hand smoke in public spaces. Completely smoke-free environments are the preferred and socially responsible option for non-smoking policies; however, when considering the variety of landscapes in which post-secondary institutions are located, „a one size fits all? smoking policy is unrealistic to implement and en-force. The purpose of the study was to: 1) gain a better sense of the prevalence of smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke in a post-secondary context that is geographically isolated; 2) assess the awareness of existing non-smoking initiatives; and 3) identify preferred approaches for tobacco control. Methods: An online survey was distributed in 2012 to all members of the Lau-rentian University community. Descriptive statistics are presented, using fre-quency distributions, and group comparisons are reported, using Chi-Square analyses. Results: A total of 1282 persons completed the survey. Nearly 80% of respondents reported that they had been exposed to second-hand smoke in the past month on campus and the majority of respondents felt that smoking should only be allowed in Designated Outdoor Smoking Areas (51.5%); including 37.3% of daily smokers and occasional smokers. Conclusion: Institutions with a geographically isolated campus, which limit options to divert smokers from public entrances, should consider the use of Desig-nated Outdoor Smoking Areas. Implementation will create immediate reduc-tions in the prevalence of smoking at building entrances and in high traffic loca-tions and will therefore protect non-smokers from the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke.