Nursing Role: Analyzing Poland's Smoking Culture Transformation

This discussion board post examines the transformation of smoking culture in Poland, focusing on the role of scientists, civil society, and international organizations in implementing tobacco control legislation. It highlights the impact of political, financial, and social factors on the prevalence of smoking in Polish culture, particularly the government's revenue-driven approach to tobacco production. The post also addresses the importance of overcoming cultural bias in nursing practice, emphasizing the need to understand patients' cultural preferences and avoid stereotypes. It reflects on personal experiences in dealing with substance abuse within communities and stresses the significance of cultural knowledge in shaping healthcare interactions. The assignment includes references to support the analysis of tobacco control in Poland and the challenges of cultural sensitivity in nursing.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
ROLE OF THE NURSE LEADER IN POPULATION HEALTH
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Answer 1
To bring the much-needed change in the smoking culture of Poland, the role of scientists
was important as during the 1990s they were determined to provide a logical reason for quitting
smoking so that citizen can trust their theory. In the 1980s, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Memorial
Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology published the first report on the harmful effect of
tobacco smoking as well as was able to link that with the emergence of cancer (Center For
Global Development 2018). With the help of this evidence, the Poland Civil society and the
Anti-tobacco society with the help of World Health Organization and other international anti-
tobacco society raised voices to create a legislation for the tobacco control movement in Poland
(Kaleta et al., 2014). Eventually, in the year 1995, the Polish parliament was able to pass a
legislation to protect the public health against the devastating effects of tobacco that included
several historical steps such as a ban on smoking and selling cigarettes in places such as schools,
colleges, hospitals, and workplaces. Further, it also restricted the smoking age and determined
that only people above the age 18 can smoke cigarettes, leading to bringing a change in the
smoking culture of Poland (Kaleta et al., 2012).
Answer 2
While discussing the history of smoking in the polish culture, it should be mentioned that
the culture was hugely affected by political, financial and social influences of that time. At that
time, state-driven tobacco production units were the major source for generation of revenue and
hence, the government provided very limited information to the companies, its workers, and
consumers about the harmful effect of tobacco (Jassem, Przewoźniak & Zatoński, 2014). This
trend continued in the 1980s when the private economy replaced the state-driven factories, in

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
less than one decade more than 90% of the state-driven tobacco industries were privatized.
However, the government did not change its strategy to earn revenue and due to this step, the
availability of cigarettes increased hugely in the Poland market. The prince of cigarettes was
cheaper than the price of bread and the political parties were responsible to keep the price lowest
all the time. Hence, these political steps made cigarette a part of Polish culture (Jha & Peto,
2014).
Answer 3
To remove the bias related to cultural stereotype, I try to know about the cultural
preferences of my patients and would provide them information about the smoking addiction
irrespective of their culture, origin and socio-economic status. However, while serving any
community, I face difficulty with the community suffering from substance abuse because they
are unable to make their mind prepare for quitting smoking. While learning about any culture,
people start judging the community and hence it leads to stereotypes that affect the identity of the
community. Therefore, in my practice, while interacting with any community or person with
cultural difference, I do not speculate about their habit and lifestyle and seek knowledge about
their lifestyle so that I can incorporate that information in the healthcare process (Zatonski,
Zatonski & Przewozniak, 2013). Therefore, it is evident that prior knowledge of cultural
stereotypes affects the interaction with one another.

3NURSING ASSIGNMENT
References
Center For Global Development (2018). CASE 14: Curbing tobacco use in Poland. [online]
Center For Global Development. Available at: https://www.cgdev.org/page/case-14-
curbing-tobacco-use-poland [Accessed 23 Jul. 2018].
Jassem, J., Przewoźniak, K., & Zatoński, W. (2014). Tobacco control in Poland—successes and
challenges. Translational lung cancer research, 3(5), 280.
Jha, P., & Peto, R. (2014). Global effects of smoking, of quitting, and of taxing tobacco. New
England Journal of Medicine, 370(1), 60-68.
Kaleta, D., Korytkowski, P., Makowiec-Dąbrowska, T., Usidame, B., Bąk-Romaniszyn, L., &
Fronczak, A. (2012). Predictors of long-term smoking cessation: results from the global
adult tobacco survey in Poland (2009–2010). BMC public health, 12(1), 1020.
Kaleta, D., Usidame, B., Dziankowska-Zaborszczyk, E., Makowiec-Dąbrowska, T., & Leinsalu,
M. (2014). Prevalence and factors associated with hardcore smoking in Poland: findings
from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2009–2010). BMC public health, 14(1), 583.
Zatonski, W., Zatonski, M., & Przewozniak, K. (2013). Health improvement in Poland is
contingent on continued extensive tobacco control measures. Annals of Agricultural and
Environmental Medicine, 20(2).