Worldwide Experienced Policy and Management Interventions in Preventing and Controlling Water Pipe Smoking

Abstract

Background: A review is carried out to identify management and policy interventions affecting preventing and controlling Water Pipe Smoking (WPS) worldwide. Methods: PubMed, ISI Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, Science Direct, and Ovid from 1990 to August 2018 were reviewed through a literature review process. Primary studies reported at least one intervention in preventing and controlling WPS. The surveyed studies were independently checked by two investigators and quality appraised, and relevant data were extracted. Results: Out of 4343 retrieved records from the databases, 2228 records were screened, and 38 studies were selected as the main corpus of the study. The interventions identified from the content analysis process were placed in two main categories, namely management and policy interventions. The category of management interventions was related to the prevention and control measures of WPS. The category of policy interventions focused on the enactment and implementation of legislatives and policies to control WPS in national and international levels. Most interventions focused on school-based education and lack of proper interventions in WP industry. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that governments are ignorant of this important social and health crisis, and very few measures have been taken to control WPS. Informed interventions, especially among school-based and adolescents can lead to promising results in preventing and controlling WPS. There is a need to develop and design WP-specific evidence-based interventions.