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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Melissa A. Rehrig, MPH Candidate, Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug & Alcohol Commission, Inc, 724 Phillips Street, Suite A, Stroudsburg, PA 18360, 570-421-1960, mrehrig@cmpda.cog.pa.us and Alberto J.F. Cardelle, PhD, MPH, MPH Program, East Stroudsburg University, 200 Prospect Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301.

With most of the states in the region (New York, Delaware, ), banning smoking in all indoor places, the question stands will Pennsylvania be soon to follow? The goal of this paper is to determine the attitudes of policy makers toward the regulation of secondhand smoke in workplaces, especially restaurants and bars in three counties in northeast Pennsylvania; and measure if this attitude changes after being informed of their constituent's opinions. The study surveyed state and county policymakers from the three counties, using a web based anonymous instrument. After gathering data from policymakers they are shown the results of a random sample of 8,000 registered voters in the tri-county area that ask them to voice their opinion on secondhand smoke issues. The survey instrument used is a tested instrument that has been used in Massachusetts by the University of Massachusetts, and in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania by the Coalition for a Smoke-free Valley. The surveys were conducted to assess the opinions of a sample of registered voters in Carbon, Monroe, and Pike counties. Policymakers will then be surveyed again to determine if their views concerning the regulation of secondhand smoke changed after viewing the views of their constituents. The study's hypothesis is that policy-makers have pre-conceived notions of the views of their communities that are skewed toward the views of the most vocal members, and that in the counties with larger populations and in the counties with largest increase in population the policy-makers' pre-conceived notions will be most wrong.

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