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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Optimizing census geography: the separation of collection and output geographies.

"This paper reviews the changing way in which census geography has been treated with the increasing automation of census data processing. A four-stage model of modern census geography development is presented. In the context of this model, current practice is reviewed, and new opportunities for automated census geography design presented, culminating in a current prototype for the separation of purpose-designed data collection and output geographies. The narrative is presented primarily from a British perspective, but focuses on internationally relevant issues such as the implementation of census geography design, and the influence of census output geography on data analysis."

Censuses↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The confounding of race and geography: how much of the excess stroke mortality among African Americans is explained by geography?

INTRODUCTION: The excess stroke mortality among African Americans and Southerners is well known. Because a higher proportion of the population living in the 'Stroke Belt' is African American, then a portion of the estimated excess risk of stroke death traditionally associated with African-American race may be attributable to geography (i.e., race and geography are 'confounded'). In this paper we estimate the proportion of the excess stroke mortality among African Americans that is attributable to geography. METHODS: The numbers of stroke deaths at the county level are available from the vital statistics system of the US. A total of 1,143 counties with a population of at least 500 whites and 500 African Americans were selected for these analyses. The black-to-white stroke mortality ratio was estimated with and without adjustment for county of residence for those aged 45-64 and for those aged 65 and over. The difference in the stroke mortality ratio before versus after adjustment for county provides an estimate of the proportion of the excess stroke mortality inappropriately attributed to race (that is in fact attributable to geographic region). RESULTS: For ages 45-64, the black-to-white stroke mortality ratio was reduced from 3.41 to 3.04 for men, and from 2.82 to 2.60 for women, suggesting that between 10 and 15% of the excess mortality traditionally attributed to race is rather due to geography. Over the age of 65, the black-to-white stroke mortality ratio was reduced from 1.31 to 1.27 for men, and from 1.097 to 1.095 for women, suggesting that between 2 and 13% of the excess mortality attributed to black race is actually attributable to geography. The reductions of all the four age strata gender groups were highly significant. DISCUSSION: These results suggest that a significant, although relatively small, proportion of the excess mortality traditionally attributed to race is rather a factor of geography.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2002

Themes in British health geography at the end of the century: a review of published research 1998-2000.

This paper provides a succinct overview of some recent trends in geography of health in Britain since 1998. We consider how the research we have reviewed illuminates the relationships between geographies of health and three fundamental processes which are widely recognized as being important for contemporary human geography as a whole: globalization, urbanization and polarization. We also consider the contribution of health geography to agendas in cultural geography agenda which we refer to here as 'geographies of imagination'. These perspectives all relate to dynamic and diverse processes operating in Britain and throughout the world. We explore how health geography is responding to change, and what the agenda for future research will be. By considering these themes, we also seek to show how the geography of health is contributing to a wider discourse, shared to some extent in human geography as a whole, and we discuss the themes which are likely to feature in the future health geography research agenda.

Ecology↗
PubMed2003

Locating a geography of nursing: space, place and the progress of geographical thought.

Although traditionally, nursing research has paid little attention to geographical approaches, recent years have witnessed some initial research interest in the dynamic between nursing, space and place. Such research potentially represents the foundations of what may be termed a 'geography of nursing'. Although, to date, some novel and valuable perspectives have been gained into the spatial features of nursing, no consideration has been given to the theoretical development of, and basis for, a geography of nursing. Furthermore, no consideration has been given to philosophical heritage; the treatment of space and place in human geography and the insights that this may provide for the new field of research. In this context, this paper provides an historical review of geographical research and traces the evolution of how space and place have been conceptualized and operationalized by it. The paper outlines the emergence of a health geography subdiscipline and its own changing and diverse perspectives. In the final section, the central themes of the current geography of nursing are considered and, reflecting back on the theoretical concerns of contemporary human geography, the paper outlines some philosophies and theories on which future geography of nursing could be based. From a disciplinary perspective, one potential role of the geography of nursing is argued to be the maintenance of the relationship between health geography and mainstream health service and medical concerns, but in a place-sensitive, patient-sensitive and qualitative form.

Demography↗
PubMed2005

Towards a geography of fitness: an ethnographic case study of the gym in British bodybuilding culture.

During recent years, research in health geography has engaged with peoples' health as well as diseases, an interest reflected by therapeutic geographies and geographies of public health. At the same time, studies have focused on micro-contexts such as the body, reflected in geographies of diseased and disadvantaged bodies. However, little research has combined elements of the two approaches and engaged in research on active healthy bodies and fitness. Equally the sub-discipline of sports geography provides little insight into fitness activities because this research has tended to focus on elite sports, their fans and facilities. Given these contexts, a detailed case study is presented to demonstrate the potential for geographical research on fitness. Through an observational study of a specialist gym facility, the study investigates how bodybuilding culture and place are co-produced. Indeed, the gym provides a narrative resource and a crucial setting for individual body projects and collective body culture which involve social conflicts, cohesions and hierarchies, illegal and potentially health harming activities, as well as personal comfort and therapeutic attachments. It is argued that beyond this case study, many activities crosscut health maintenance, or conversely risks to health, and the enjoyment of sports and fitness. A greater emphasis therefore at the sub-disciplinary interface of sports and health geography on hybrid 'fitness geographies' may help researchers towards a more comprehensive understanding, and coverage, of health issues in society.

Fitness Centers↗
PubMed2002

The role of French-language contributors to the development of medical geography (1782-1933).

In the literature it is L. L. Finke's three volume work Versuch einer aligemeinen medicinisch-praktischen Geographie, 1792-1795, that is commonly cited as the first to use the term "medical geography". However, Rofort's investigations on the 18th and 19th century development of medical topography in France (1987, 1988) has revealed that a French physician, Dehorne, used the term a decade earlier, and in 1784 Dehorne suggested that a project be undertaken by the Royal Medical Society of Paris on a "Medical Geography of France". The proposal was debated in the Journal de Médecine Militaire in 1786. This correspondence probably is the earliest critique of the concept of medical geography. It was also the French who were the first to have entries on medical geography in dictionaries and encyclopedias. Dr. Jean-Noël Hallé wrote a lengthy piece conceptually placing medical geography as a foundation for medical hygienics in Encyclopédie Méthodique (1787, 1792). In 1817 Julien Virey wrote a 66 page entry on medical geography in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales. Throughout the nineteenth century authors writing in the French language continued to make advances and in 1933 the French geographer Max Sorre suggested new directions for the field in the light of bacteriological discoveries and the re-orientation of medicine.

Dictionaries, Medical as Topic↗
PubMed1987

Human geography in the French Institute: new discipline or missed opportunity?

The geography section of the Class of Moral and Political Sciences of the French National Institute, which was in existence from December 1795 to January 1803, responded inadequately to the theoretical challenges of Montesquieu, the hygienists, Volney, and Degérando to study thoroughly native peoples to determine the effects of physical geographic conditions on the body and mind. Most geographers had no interest in human geography, and even statistical geography received only superficial discussion. Despite the emergence of the scientific journal, only a few authors partly transcended the stereotypes of the noble-ignoble savage. The only expedition partly planned by the Institute in this period had an ambitious exploration program that precluded a linguistically sophisticated study of native peoples. Bonaparte's dissolution of the Class hindered further opportunities for studying human geography during the Empire.

Anthropology, Cultural↗
PubMed1992

Therapeutic landscapes: medical issues in light of the new cultural geography.

Employing an expanded meaning of the concept of landscape taken from the 'new' cultural geography, this paper explores why certain places or situations are perceived to be therapeutic. Themes from both traditional and recent work in cultural geography are illustrated with examples from the literature of the social science of health care. The themes include man-environment relationships; humanist concepts such as sense of place and symbolic landscapes; structuralist concepts such as hegemony and territoriality; and blends of humanist concerns, structuralist concerns, and time geography. The intention of this broad overview is to bring some particularly useful concepts developed in cultural geography to the attention of social scientists interested in matters of health and to stimulate research along new lines.

Culture↗