A Qualitative Study Among Mexican Americans to Understand Factors Influencing the Adoption and Enforcement of Home Smoking Bans

Abstract

Qualitative interviews suggested cultural and family considerations to address in adapting a brief evidence-based smoke-free homes intervention for Mexican Americans, including traditional gender roles, unique contexts of multigenerational households, and language preferences. Our work confirms previous research among Latinos regarding importance of common cultural constructs, such as respeto (deference), simpatia (courtesy and agreeability), and familismo (family attachment), which inform behaviors that may impede or facilitate adopting and enforcing home smoking bans. Decision-making gender imbalances, high regard for head-of-household and guest smokers, and less sensitivity to the health of nonsmoker adults compared with children may lead to permission to smoke indoors.

“It’s Worse to Breathe It Than to Smoke It”: Secondhand Smoke Beliefs in a Group of Mexican and Central American Immigrants in the United States

“…At a general level, our results for Latinx immigrants are similar to other studies based on qualitative analysis [ 9 , 13 , 14 , 15 ] that report that Latinx participants know what secondhand smoke is and that secondhand smoke is harmful. These other analyses did not delve into participants’ understanding of how secondhand smoke is harmful (its mechanism of action), or how its effects were more harmful for some adults than others, and for children more than for adults.…”

“…Details of Latinx knowledge and beliefs surrounding secondhand smoke are limited. Several important analyses have examined some aspects of Latinx perceptions surrounding secondhand and thirdhand smoke [ 9 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. (Thirdhand smoke is residual nicotine and other chemicals left on indoor surfaces by tobacco smoke [ 9 ].).…”

“…They largely focus on developing interventions and policy to reduce secondhand and thirdhand smoke exposure, and provide little insight into Latinx health beliefs beyond the general agreement that secondhand smoke is harmful. Several note that the Latinx cultural values of familismo (responsibility to care for extended family and friends), respeto (treating others with respect and not interfering with their personal decisions), simpatía (maintaining agreeable social relationships and avoiding direct confrontation), and personalismo (relating to others on a personal, friendly level) influenced participants’ willingness to confront smokers or demand smoke-free policies [ 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”

Developing an Awareness Campaign to Reduce Second Hand Smoke Among Disadvantaged Families—A Participatory M-Health Approach

“…One explanation for this could be that individuals with lower socio-economic status (SES) are less aware of the detrimental health effects of SHS and have less knowledge regarding strategies to reduce SHS exposure [ 2 , 3 , 13 ]. Therefore, it has been recommended that interventions should be tailored to the needs of families in difficult social or economic situations and should take into account cultural barriers [ 3 , 9 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

“…Unfortunately, the second best approach—promoting a reduction of SHS exposure in the home environment—has also resulted in only small effects in most studies [ 19 , 20 ]. Practical, social, financial, cultural, and personal issues make it difficult for disadvantaged parents to protect their children from SHS [ 15 , 16 , 21 ]. To our knowledge, the intervention studies carried out so far followed a top-down rather than a participatory approach [ 18 , 19 ].…”