Smoking bans and violence on mental health wards: what’s the link?


John Baker isn’t convinced by the findings of a systematic review on smoking bans and violence in mental health settings, which concludes that the introduction of smoke-free policies generally do not lead to an increase in violence.

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Smoke-free policy in psychiatric hospitals associated with reduction in physical violence


Olivia Maynard reports on a new study in The Lancet Psychiatry that explores the effect of implementing a smoke-free policy on physical violence in a psychiatric inpatient setting, which has some surprising findings.

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Olivia Maynard summarises a recent Cochrane systematic review about the impact of institutional smoking bans on reducing harms and secondhand smoke exposure in hospitals, universities and prisons.

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Should we stigmatise smokers?


Andrew Jones on a recent systematic review that brings together quantitative and qualitative research about the positive and negative impact of tobacco cessation campaigns and measures. The review concludes that stigmatising of smoking can lead to unintended consequences, such as increased stress, social isolation and smoking relapse.

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New NICE guidance recommends that all NHS hospitals and clinics become completely smoke-free


Over 40% of all cigarettes smoked in England are smoked by people with severe mental illnesses. This group are more likely to become physically ill than the rest of the population, but they are less likely to be given help to quit. Smoking is especially common among people with mental health problems: whilst 1 in [read the full story…]