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Psychiatric Hospitals and Workplace Smoking Bans: A Biological and Sociological Commentary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Rojiemiahd Edjoc*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada. [email protected]
*
*Address for correspondence: Rojiemiahd Edjoc, Research Assistant, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 40 Ruskin Street, Ottawa, ON Canada K1Y 4W7.

Abstract

Smoking is widely known as an architect of well-documented, negative health outcomes. The advent of legislated actions to ban work- and public-place smoking has reduced the overall smoking prevalence in Canada and around the world. However, what is often overlooked are patients with psychiatric illness who are confined in psychiatric institutions and are not able to take advantage of designated smoking areas. The aim of this commentary is to raise awareness of potential inequitable conditions that are inherent in workplace smoking restrictions particularly for psychiatric patients. A biological and social equity perspective will frame the discourse of the issue.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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