Creating smoke-free environments in recreational settings

To facilitate the banning of tobacco industry sponsorship, Australian healt h promotion foundations were established to provide health sponsorship to s port. arts, and racing organizations. Health sponsorship dollars procure he alth sponsorship benefits such as naming rights, signage, personal endorsem ent of a (health) product by a performer or player, and structural controls such as smoke-free policies. Data are presented from surveys and observati ons of spectators attending events sponsored by the West Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway) and surveys of Healthway-sponsored organiz ations and the community. The results demonstrate that by using health spon sorship, Healthway increased the prevalence of smoke-free policies in recre ational settings, and there was growing support for these policies. There w as evidence of good: compliance with smoke-free policies, thus reducing exp osure to environmental tobacco smoke. The introduction of smoke-free polici es in recreational settings has involved working collaboratively with secto rs outside of health, taking an incremental approach to change, and gaining the support of stakeholders by communicating evaluation results.