FAMILIES have been praised for taking part in an initiative to tackle the problem of passive smoking after a health board area recorded more than one million minutes of indoor air quality in smokers’ homes.

More than one million minutes of indoor air quality in smokers’ homes have been measured as part of the three-year study carried out by NHS Lanarkshire into the problem in the homes of families with young children in the area.

A total of 120 families are taking part in First Steps to Smoke-Free which aims to gather 2.6 million minutes of air-quality measurements, making it one of the most extensive passive smoking studies of its kind anywhere in the world.

Families involved agree to have an indoor air quality monitor installed in their home for approximately one week so harmful particles of second-hand smoke can be measured every minute of the day. 

Parents then receive personalised feedback on their household air quality in a graph showing how levels of second-hand smoke have changed over the week. 

They also receive information on simple, practical steps to reduce their child’s exposure to second-hand smoke within the home. This is repeated one month and six months later to see if providing parents with the knowledge has changed their attitudes to smoking and encouraged them to have a smoke-free in the home.

The project is being funded by the Scottish Chief Scientist’s Office and is a collaboration involving the health board’s smoking prevention team, Lanarkshire’s First Steps programme and Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities. 

Lynn Adams, of health improvement senior tobacco/early years NHS Lanarkshire, who is overseeing the project, said: “Children and babies are especially susceptible to the harmful effects of second hand smoke – which is why we’re undertaking this research.”