This article identifies several directions in which health education currently channels its energies, and suggests more appropriate alternatives. Topics include: individual behavior versus a broader environmental focus, questionable links between risk factors and health promotion efforts, and the relationship of education and morality to health…

This article addresses select health issues of Native Americans, emphasizing coronary heart disease (CHD). The link between lifestyle and CHD is discussed. CHD risk data from a study of 67 Community Health Representatives is presented, and the role these paraprofessionals can play in health education among Native Americans is discussed. (IAH)

Data from a study of 11 teenage diabetics suggests that pregnancy among adolescent diabetics is more frequent than among the general population, at a time when diabetic control is poor because of psychosocial factors associated with adolescence. Current recommendations regarding contraception for diabetic women, focusing on barrier methods, are…

Data from a study of 48 hospitalized Mexican American diabetics suggests that concurrent enrollment in a health education program, by the patient and a significant other, produces greater compliance with therapeutic regimes than when significant others are not involved. (IAH)

This article describes the Preconceptional Intervention Program, a model used among women in 12 Florida counties who are at high risk for low birth-weight delivery. Preconceptional intervention identifies high risk women, provides educational programs, and provides adequate preconceptional and prenatal medical care. (IAH)

Early and continuous prenatal care is a key factor in lowering infant mortality. Intervention strategies and programs adopted by the Richmond City Health Department to decrease infant mortality rates are described. (IAH)

This article describes a health promotion demonstration project which addressed the health problem of hypertension, as related to variables of excercise, weight, blood pressure measurement and reduction, medication compliance, and nutritional practices. Participants (N=18) were senior citizens who were associated with a small, rural, predominantly…

Research guidelines are presented to encourage sound research on the menopausal transition. Included is a review of current literature covering three aspects of menopausal transition: age span, changes in menstrual bleeding during the transition, and other psychological and somatic changes during premenopausal stages. (IAH)

Findings are presented from a study which investigated the effects of teaching specific guidelines for alcohol consumption on alcohol knowledge and attitudes in university students (N=87). Students who received the guidelines performed better than subjects who received standard college curriculum alone or subjects in a control group. (IAH)

By working with labor unions, health educators have the opportunity to reach worker groups that have been ignored by many worksite health promotion programs. A union-based smoking cessation program is described, and general guidelines for worksite health promotion are given. (IAH)

An instructional activity designed to clarify pharmacological concepts related to drug use is described. The focus of the activity is a simulation, with student actors, of the effect of drugs and alcohol on the nervous system. (IAH)

A total of 281 adults were interviewed about personal health practices to determine whether an information-seeking dimension could be empirically identified in a general community-resident sample. Results support the importance of information seeking as a component of personal health practices. (JOW)

A recruitment effort aimed at utility company employees enrolled 64 percent (679) in a health promotion program. Results demonstrate that sociodemographic predictors of recruitment are almost a mirror image of employee participation in worksite health promotion programs. (JOW)

As part of a family cardiovascular health promotion project, 111 Mexican-American and 95 Anglo-American families with fifth or sixth grade children were assigned to either a primary prevention program involving 18 sessions or to a control condition. Correlates of attendance were low baseline scores on physical activity and cardiovascular fitness…

Employees of four manufacturing plants who were at risk because of high blood pressure, obesity, or smoking were periodically contacted by wellness counselors. Over a three-year period, seven strategies for behavior change were used. High blood pressure clients were most likely to begin risk reduction actions. Frequency of followup showed positive…