South-East European Research Centre (SEERC)

The implementation of smoking bans in public places, in Albania is a very difficult and problematic process. The present research aimed to provide an understanding of the phenomenon of noncompliance to the ban by exploring attitudes, beliefs, and norms related to smoking and noncompliance behaviour in three public places: hospitals, schools, and leisure venues. Results showed massive noncompliance in hospitals (82%) and leisure venues (94%), but not schools (39%). Albanian smokers perceived noncompliance behavior as socially acceptable, reported on strong descriptive norms of noncompliance, and weak implementation of the policy. Nonetheless, they held a negative attitude towards noncompliance and agreed with the health effects of passive smoking. Hence, Albanian smokers represent a population of noncompliers who acknowledge that their behavior is wrong, but still continue doing it, since they seem to get neither social disapproval nor legal punishment. The findings have important practical implications.