Enforcement experiences on tobacco-free universities in California

Abstract

Smoke- and tobacco-free university polices have been expanding throughout the United States. In spite of the benefits of such policies, policy compliance remains a challenge. A better understanding of campus community enforcement approaches is needed to inform future policy implementation to bring about greater adherence to university smoke- and tobacco-free policies. To this end, thirteen focus groups with 76 participants from two universities in Southern California with tobacco-free policies were held from October 2019 through October 2020 to discuss attitudes toward and experiences with the campus smoking policy, campus tobacco use behavior, and policy enforcement. Focus groups discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a general inductive analysis approach. A wide array of campus stakeholders were involved in enforcement actions, including formal entities such as police and parking enforcement, as well as the general campus community such as students and employees. However, the majority of participants in the study had never had an enforcement experience and those who did only did so on rare occasion. Enforcement experiences were often perceived as aggressive, which elicited a desire for a similarly aggressive response on the part of the person smoking or vaping. The enforcement of e-cigarettes is particularly challenging because of the speed and discretion with which they can be used compared to combustible tobacco and perceived favorable norms toward e-cigarettes. Universities should consider using proactive, consistent, and tailored actions to reinforce changing social norms for greater policy compliance.