BACKGROUND Attrition is an important problem in cohort studies. Tracing cohort members who have moved or otherwise lost contact with the study is vital. There is some debate about the acceptability and relative effectiveness of opt-in versus opt-out methods of contacting cohort members to re-engage them in this context. We conducted a randomised controlled trial to compare the two approaches in...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Researches to evaluate Primary Health Care performance in TB control in Brazil show that different cities aggregate local specificities in the dynamics of coping with the disease. This study aims to evaluate health services' performance in TB treatment in cities across different Brazilian regions. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in five cities that are c...

Continuity of care is often critical in delivering high quality health care. However, it is difficult to achieve in community health care where shift patterns and a need to minimise travelling time can reduce the scope for allocating staff to patients. Community midwifery is one example of such a challenge in the National Health Service where postnatal care typically involves a series of home v...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effects of preventive home visits to elderly people living in the community. DESIGN Systematic review. SETTING 15 trials retrieved from Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane controlled trial register. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Physical function, psychosocial function, falls, admissions to institutions, and mortality. RESULTS Considerable differences in the methodological...

BACKGROUND Resource constraints may inhibit the provision of appropriate interventions for children with neurodisabilities presenting with behavioural sleep problems. Telephone calls (TC), as opposed to home visits (HV), may be a more resource efficient means of supporting these families. OBJECTIVE To conduct a preliminary investigation exploring the feasibility and acceptability of replacing...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Interprofessional teamwork and collaboration are considered key elements for improving patient outcomes; however, few reports of interprofessional education experiences in primary care directed to students are found in the literature. We describe an educational program in primary care for medical, nursing, and psychology students and report the findings of their percep...

Despite the high prevalence of early marriage and the distinct and predictable risks these girls and young women face, little is known about the lives of married young women, and little has been done to support them. In response, the Population Council, in partnership with Child in Need Institute (West Bengal) and Deepak Charitable Trust (Gujarat), initiated the First-Time Parents project. This...

AIM To determine the effect of early childhood stimulation with undernourished children and their mothers on maternal depression. METHODS Mothers of 139 undernourished children (weight for age < or =-1.5 z-scores) aged 9-30 months were recruited from 18 government health centres in the parishes of Kingston, St Andrew, and St Catherine, Jamaica. They received weekly home visits by community he...

BACKGROUND The positive effects of early developmental intervention (EDI) on early child development have been reported in numerous controlled trials in a variety of countries. An important aspect to determining the efficacy of EDI is the degree to which dosage is linked to outcomes. However, few studies of EDI have conducted such analyses. This observational cohort study examined the associati...

the state. Caring for the poor in hospitals and during home visits, individual physicians since the Enlightenment got involved in political reform movements, joining their voices to describe the evils of urbanization and industrialization. Other work has exposed the recent political fortunes of the medical profession itself and its struggles to achieve a healing monopoly. As the Porters point o...