In the next month, 1,000 Rockland residents will get telephone calls asking them questions to help determine how the county focuses its anti-smoking programs.
The Rockland Health Department is doing its annual survey of tobacco use and attitudes toward smoking.
"It helps us see what the trends are," said Shelley Chanler, a public health educator. "It also evaluates the impact of the programs we have in the community."
The department has contracted with a company to call 1,000 Rockland homes. The telephone numbers are chosen randomly and will include unlisted numbers.
Researchers will ask to speak to the adult in the home with the most recent birthday. The entire interview takes about 11 minutes. People taking part will not be asked for their names. All information will be kept confidential.
The survey started yesterday and will end early next month.
"The data are used in a combination of ways," said Lisa Lieberman, a New City public health researcher who will analyze the data for the Health Department. "It helps us evaluate what the results are of the efforts we've already made and tells us what we can do to improve."
This will be the fifth time that Rockland has collected information about smoking.
Previous surveys have found that less than 14 percent of adults in Rockland smoke — a percentage that has been steadily declining. The survey does not measure smoking among people younger than 18.
Previous surveys have yielded interesting information, Lieberman said.
After an earlier survey showed higher cigarette use among Spanish-speaking men than the general population, the Health Department offered smoking-cessation classes in Spanish.
The classes had mixed results, department officials said.
"We reached a few smokers," Lieberman said. "But now we are wondering if the workshop approach is the right approach."
The Health Department is experimenting with reaching out to different groups through schools and employers. As a result of the telephone survey, for example, the department asked students in a class for English as a second language about their smoking habits.
Previous surveys also showed higher-than-average tobacco use among Yiddish-speaking men in Rockland.
That information led the Health Department to meet with Jewish community leaders to talk about smoking, Chanler said.
"We learned that many men start smoking when they go to Israel to study," she said.
The department is working with Jewish community leaders to try to develop smoking-cessation programs for those residents.
This year's survey also will help the county gauge opinions about tobacco use.
State law banned indoor smoking nearly three years ago. Some local municipalities are now considering measures to ban smoking at such outdoor locations as playgrounds and bus stops.
"The survey helps the Health Department determine if there is public support for those measures," Lieberman said. "It helps us measure what the attitudes are."
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