[Tackling tobacco dependency among a Health District's employees]

To find the view of health and ancillary staff about tobacco consumption in Health Centres, smokers' profiles, and their degree of motivation to give up.

Observational and crossover study.Setting. Primary Care district in the city of Barcelona (Eixample District).

All the health and ancillary staff in the District (n=932).

Personal questionnaire with anonymous reply on: personal details, tobacco habit, view on the function of example, compliance with regulations in force, and their attitude to tobacco in the work-place.

52% replied; 68.4% were women, with average age 46.9 (SD 9.9). 26.5% smoked; 43.8% had never smoked and 29.6% were ex-smokers. 87.5% thought example an important function; 68.1%, that prohibition signs were insufficient; 72.8%, that legal regulations were not complied with; 77.2% thought space should be reserved for smokers; and 61.2% were annoyed that there was smoking in the centre. 63.9% of the health staff counselled smoker patients as a matter of course. There was greater prevalence of smokers among clerical staff, nurses and the "others" group. Smokers consumed 16.6 cigarettes per day (SD 9.5), had been smoking for 23.2 years (SD 9.6). 54.3% had tried at least once to give it up. 59.1% had high dependency and 76.7% had high motivation. 64.8% would participate in activities to stop smoking and 72.4% thought that their employers should provide assistance.

Those surveyed thought that example was an important function, signs were insufficient and the regulations in force were not respected. Half the smokers would be interested in taking part in activities to help them give up and think the company should help them.