Back to home page1994 - VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1
94.57.01 - English - Arun R. JOSHI, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 (U.S.A.)
Maternal Schooling and Child Health: Preliminary Analysis of the Intervening Mechanisms in Rural Nepal (p. 1-28)
This article provides evidence from a community-level study in rural Nepal of the mechanisms by which schooling affects maternal behaviour and infant and child health. Two hypotheses concerning the mechanisms are identified and tested. It was found that schooling equips women with specific skills and dispositions or identity which significantly predict two principal domains of health-care behaviour: use of medical services; and changes in household health behaviour. It was also faound that women with schooling had healthier children using height-for-age as an indicator of health. (NEPAL, EDUCATION OF WOMEN, MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH)
94.57.02 - English - Noreen GOLDMAN, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540 (U.S.A.), and Anne R. PEBLEY, RAND, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 (U.S.A.)
Childhood Immunization and Pregnancy-Related Services in Guatemala (p. 29-44)
In this paper we examine the experience of one poor country, Guatemala, that provided childhood immunization partly through a major national campaign, and provided pregnancy-related services through government health facilities, during the 1980s. Specifically, we compare the breadth of coverage of these two types of services using national sample survey data collected in 1987. We then draw upon results of previous qualitative studies to explore the social, cultural, and organizational factors that may account for differences between the use of immunization and the use of pregnancy-related health services. (GUATEMALA, VACCINATION, PRENATAL CARE, COVERAGE)
94.57.03 - English - Alice GOLDSTEIN, Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University, Box 1916, Providence, RI 02912 (U.S.A.), Susan COTTS WATKINS, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (U.S.A.), and Ann ROSEN SPECTOR, Rutgers University, Camden, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 (U.S.A.)
Childhood Health-Care Practices Among Italians and Jews in the United States, 1910-1940 (p. 45-62)
This paper examines attitudes toward childhood health-care practices among urban Italian and Jewish families in the United States in the first part of the. 20th century. Altough women in both groups were concerned about their children's health, Italian and Jewish respondents differed in their attitudes toward home remedies, doctors, and medical advice literature. Jewish women were more likely to turn rapidly to professional medical assistance, typically from Jewish doctors, whereas Italian women were more likely to rely longer on common sense before eventually seeking professional medical intervention outside the family and ethnic group. These differences are evident both in the respondent' recollections of their mothers' and their own child-care practices, and suggest persistent ethnic cultures. These differences in child care are consistent with the mortality differences documented in other sources support previous speculations about the importance of child care, and thus the role of culture in health transitions. (UNITED STATES, HISTORY, ETHNIC GROUPS, MATERNAL AND CHILD CARE, CULTURE)
94.57.04 - English - Deborah E. BENDER, Department of Health Policy and Administration, The School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (U.S.A.), and Douglas EWBANK, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (U.S.A.)
The Focus Group as a Tool for Health Research: Issues in Design and Analysis (p. 63-80)
The focus group is a technique for eliciting information from specific population subgroups. Issues addressed may be little known or relatively well known to the researcher. The method is most effectively used when the objective of the investigation is to elicit points of view of client or consumer groups which may differ from those of providers. Despite the frequency with which focus groups are used, few published materials describe the practical application of the method. This paper presents a detailed methodology for the conduct of focus groups and analysis of focus-group data with the intention of improving its use among researchers and health-care professionals. Data from two studies, immunization compliance in West Africa, and barriers to use of prenatal-care services in Bolivia, are used as illustrative examples. (METHODOLOGY, DATA COLLECTION, FIELD SURVEYS)
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