OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate a pilot occupational therapy wellness program designed to teach elders the importance of participation in meaningful social and community occupations to their quality of life. METHOD Sixty-five older adults participated in this pilot wellness program held at each of three senior apartment complexes. Measures of health-related quality of life...

BACKGROUND Social and environmental factors are increasingly recognized for their ability to influence health outcomes at both individual and neighborhood scales in the developing urban world. Yet issues of spatial heterogeneity in these complex environments may obscure unique elements of neighborhood life that may be protective or harmful to human health. Resident perceptions of neighborhood e...

This paper outlines the principal aims and design of the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey, mental health supplement (GHS-MHS), the first nationwide, epidemiological study of both somatic and mental health in Germany on a representative sample of 4,181 subjects in the community. Both the broader context of the study--in particular its methodological relation to the social ...

We report findings of a survey of 555 women 18-35 years of age living in Northern Manhattan in New York City. The survey was conducted by the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) to learn what community women knew about environmental risks to health and what they did to protect themselves and their families, to validate the findings of focus groups held with community wom...

PROBLEM Birth registration remains far from complete in many developing countries. This was true of Ghana before a major registration campaign was undertaken. APPROACH This study, based on survey data, assesses the results of a registration campaign initiated in 2004-2005 in Ghana. Key strategies included: extending the legal period for free registration of infants; incorporating registration...

BACKGROUND In most developing countries, the health of the children is strongly dependant on maternal healthcare behaviour. The study describes the prevalence of illness among preschool children in a rural sugarcane growing community and the mother's health seeking behavior. OBJECTIVES To document the presence of illness among preschool children at household level in a rural community in West...