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Persistent
Smoking in Bars: An Ethnographic Analysis
Principal
Investigator: Roland S. Moore, Ph.D.
This
study is designed to investigate beliefs and behavior surrounding
tobacco smoking within diverse San Francisco bars in which
smoking has been banned. Building upon the literature on bar
behavior and the research team's experience studying substance
use among workers in different settings including bars, the
proposed study will describe patrons', bartenders', and managers'
normative understandings of tobacco use, second-hand smoke,
and the extent to which California Assembly Bill 13 applies
to them. The overall goal of the proposed study is understanding
how and why many stand-alone bars are in non-compliance with
California Assembly Bill 13.
The
proposed research design consists of a two-year study using
semi-structured interviews as well as both highly structured
and qualitative observations. A random sample of stand-alone
bars (that is, bars that are unconnected to restaurants) to
study will be drawn from mapped data on alcohol outlets throughout
the city. Because the San Francisco Department of Public Health's
Tobacco Free Project recently found only 40% of stand-alone
bars to be in compliance with California Assembly Bill 13,
the final sample of 60 stand-alone bars is expected to include
roughly equal numbers of non-compliant bars and compliant
bars. Experienced anthropologists will conduct a total of
80 open-ended interviews with patrons, bartenders, and managers
of these randomly selected bars in San Francisco. Four pairs
of skilled observers will use handheld computers to record
structured observations during four waves of visits in and
around these bars. In order to learn what distinguishes compliant
from non-compliant bars, these observational settings will
include sites where smoking occurs as well as those where
smoking is discouraged.
This
study will focus on the stand-alone bar as the site of analysis
because it represents an environment in which the greatest
California Assembly Bill 13 compliance problems occur. The
stand-alone bar is the public setting in which the population
of patrons and employees is at greatest risk for exposure
to environmental tobacco smoke. This study's findings will
produce understandings of the range of bar patron and employee
smoking norms and specific rationales for not complying with
the ban. These findings constitute a necessary precursor for
large-scale preventive efforts with relevance to this population.
Accordingly, the proposed study should shed light on how to
reduce a health problem faced not only by San Francisco bar
employees and patrons, but workers and customers in non-compliant
bars throughout the state as well.
Proceed
to PRC CD Presentation featuring Dr. Roland Moore
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