The Adoption, Implementation, and Impact of Smoke-Free Policies among Gaelic Athletic Association Clubs in Ireland: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is a major stakeholder in promoting smoke-free policies in Ireland. Several GAA clubs have adopted smoke-free policies, and there is a growing interest among other GAA clubs to also become smoke-free. As such, the purpose of this study is to explore the process of how GAA clubs adopt, implement, and enforce smoke-free policies in order to discover best practices that other clubs could replicate. Representatives from 15 smoke-free clubs were interviewed regarding how their club became smoke-free. Interview data were analyzed, in which four major themes emerged: (1) process (planning a smoke-free policy, communicating the policy to the community, providing smoking cessation resources), (2) barriers (opinions and behaviors of club members who smoke, bars connected to club houses, policy exceptions, visitors and umpires who were unaware of the policy), (3) enforcement (community-based style of enforcement, non-confrontational approach, non-enforcement), and (4) impact (observation of policy compliance and decrease in cigarette litter). The study’s findings indicate a general ease of becoming smoke-free with minimal barriers. As such, the GAA should urge each club to become smoke-free and to use the effective methods used by current smoke-free clubs for communicating and enforcing smoke-free policies.