The association of workplace health education with smoking-related behaviour and unequal gains by job position in China: ABWMC programme findings

BACKGROUND: Although the Chinese government has introduced a series of regulations to promote tobacco-related health education in workplaces, their implementation has been far from satisfactory. The aim of the present study was to explore the association of company-level tobacco-related health education and employee smoking behaviour. METHODS: Data from the 2018 Asia Best Workplace Mainland China programme were used to address these aims. This was a cross-sectional study that included 14,195 employees from 79 companies in mainland China. Spearman correlation tests were used to examine unadjusted correlations between the study variables, and binary logistic regression was used for multivariable analysis. The dependent variables included smoking-related variables or health information-seeking behaviour. The explanatory variable was the company-level tobacco-related health education. RESULTS: Tobacco-related health education was associated with better smoking harm awareness (OR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.94–2.56), lower second-hand smoke exposure (OR = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.66–0.81), better perception of the workplace environment (OR = 2.04; 95% CI = 1.84–2.26) and positive health information-seeking behaviour (OR = 2.07; 95% CI = 1.86–2.30). Job position interacted with health education, suggesting that the positive association of health education was lower for general employees than employees who held an administrative position. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco-related health education is not only associated with lower SHS exposure but also related to more positive environmental perceptions and health attitudes, and these effects are significant for higher-ranking employees. Policy makers should recognize and reduce these potential health disparities.