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Guidelines and laws prohibit smoking in public places, and evidence supports the safety and effectiveness of workplace wellness programs in promoting healthy environments. A long-term care (LTC) facility selected as the focus for this project does not offer wellness programs and does not restrict on-site smoking by employees. The purpose of this project was to construct an evidence-based smoking cessation education program for delivery to employees at the LTC facility. The practice-focused question addressed whether a workplace wellness smoking cessation education program would increase employees' knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking and promote engagement in smoking cessation strategies. A pretest and posttest to assess knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking was designed to be administered to employees prior to and after the education program. A panel of 6 experts consisting of 4 clinical nurse specialists, a nurse educator, and a nurse researcher was selected to assess the potential effectiveness of the education program. A 10-question survey was used to obtain the panel experts' evaluation of the program. Descriptive statistics were then used to analyze the results. Nearly all of the experts surveyed reported that they would recommend the education program to a friend or colleague, with 66% selecting "very likely" This is indicative of the potential for the program to be effective. Findings might support social change at the selected facility by increasing staff knowledge of the harmful effects of smoking and staff commitment to participating in a smoking cessation program.

Smoking in childhood and adolescence is associated with a range of health issues, as is the exposure of young people to the second hand smoke of their parents and other family members. The initiation of smoking in adolescence is also associated with an increased risk of smoking in adulthood and all the subsequent health problems that are attached to this. Whilst smoking rates in adolescent have fallen in recent years there remains a significant number of adolescent who initiate smoking every year, and this risk is higher in certain groups such as those from areas of low socio-economic status. Under-age adolescents also continue to be able to obtain cigarettes despite recent changes in legislation and availability. Social influence has been identified as a major causal factor of initiation of adolescent smoking. This can take place in a number of settings, including the home, at school and in the community. Whilst the evidence for the relative effects of these sources of influence is mixed there is an overall lack of research in the UK on familial influences and factors. A survey of 100 adolescents was conducted for the current study at a local college and included items on smoking behaviour, family structure and several other factors. No overall significant effects of parental attitudes were found. However in light of the existing literature recommendations are made to further research family and home influences and to develop anti-smoking health education strategies which more fully take these factors into account.