PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G H DeFriese

Publications and source records attributed to G H DeFriese.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Childhood immunization programs: an analysis of policy issues.

Immunizations have been among the most successful of preventive interventions. However, concern exists in the United States that recent epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases and low rates of childhood immunizations may signal the existence of major underlying problems in immunization policy. Additionally, the effectiveness of national, state, and local public health programs in administering these and other preventive services to children has been called into question. This article examines the current state of childhood immunizations in this country and offers a broad range of suggestions for policy modification.

Appointments and Schedules↗
PubMed1989

From activated patient to pacified activist: a study of the self-care movement in the United States.

Self-care education programs in operation in the United States during the mid-1980s are surveyed by mailed questionnaire to determine the nature and content of the curricula of these programs, their organizational sponsorship, the level and types of staff working in them, and their principal prevention emphases. Results indicate that over 75% of these programs offer instruction or sponsored activities intended to help individuals or their families to: (1) increase wellness or health status through lifestyle change; (2) reduce an established risk factor; and/or (3) prevent the onset of illness or injury. Fifty-five percent of the organizations offering these services classified themselves as health services delivery organizations. A surprising finding, given the American popular media treatment of self-care as a 'movement', is that relatively few laypersons function as instructors in these programs. The paper describes the way in which self-care has been absorbed into the mainstream of American health care, even though the concept of self-care has tended to drop from scholarly attention in the socio-medical sciences in the United States.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1989

Primary health care in rural areas: an agenda for research.

The confluence of forces slowing the growth of the physician supply despite a continued shortage of primary care physicians, the encouragement of competitive medical practices that centralize resources in larger places, and the changing of the rural population's character to one of more dependence on medical care may bring on another "rural health crisis" in the decade ahead.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1988

Attributes of successful smoking cessation interventions in medical practice. A meta-analysis of 39 controlled trials.

Meta-analysis was used to examine 108 intervention comparisons in 39 controlled smoking cessation trials. Type of intervention (face-to-face advice being better than all others), type of intervenor (both physician and nonphysician counselors better than either alone), the number of reinforcing sessions, and the duration of reinforcing sessions were related to success six months after the initiation of intervention. The number of modalities used by the intervention predicted success with borderline statistical significance. Multivariate analysis predicted that a team of physicians and nonphysicians using multiple intervention modalities to deliver individualized advice on multiple occasions would produce the best result. Program success 12 months after the initiation of intervention was related to the type of intervention session (group and individual sessions combined better than either alone), the number of intervention modalities, and the number of reinforcing sessions. With multivariate adjustment for confounding, the number of intervention modalities alone had a positive association with intervention success.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1988

Norms of care in British and American neurologic practice.

At a Consensus Development Conference on the Scope of Neurological Practice in the United Kingdom, 26 British specialists in the field of neurology constructed norms of care for patients with 11 neurologic disorders. For each disorder, these specialists specified the percentage of all patients who should see a physician, as well as the percentage who should see a consultant neurologist, the appropriate duration of the initial patient encounter, and the appropriate frequency of follow-up visits per annum. When compared with American estimates used in health manpower planning, British neurologists generally make a far greater allowance for patient self-care, as well as care by nonphysician health care providers, allow less time for patient encounters, and see a need for follow-up care less frequently. These marked differences in the perceptions of specialists of a normative character may determine, in part, the different "practice styles" of physicians in different regions that cannot be explained in economic terms. Results suggest that the practice style concept should be broadened to include the use of health personnel of many types, the scope of specialty medicine, and the role definition of primary care.

Central Nervous System Diseases↗