This article examines geographic differences in the use of mental health services among Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)-eligible Medicaid beneficiaries in Maine. Findings indicate that rural AFDC beneficiaries have significantly lower utilization of mental health services than urban beneficiaries. Specialty mental health providers account for the majority of ambulatory visits for...

As the global urban population surpasses the rural, continuing growth in most developing countries means an inevitable increase in urban births. The majority of births in many countries will not be in remote rural areas, but in towns and cities [1]. Far from being good news for the twin Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of maternal and child health—neither of which is currently on track for s...

INTRODUCTION Rising health care costs and the need to consolidate expertise in tertiary services have led to the centralisation of services. In the UK, the result has been that many rural maternity units have become midwife-led. A key consideration is that midwives have the skills to competently and confidently provide maternity services in rural areas, which may be geographically isolated and ...

BACKGROUND The aftermath of World War II brought rapid change to the ways in which Canadian communities were designed and how their populations experienced their lives. The purpose of this study is to explore how mental health was understood and experienced in the context of the postwar period using the well-documented construction (in 1953) of the comprehensively planned, resource-based commun...

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative of the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization dramatically raises breastfeeding rates when implemented. To date, only 27 of the 16,000 Baby-Friendly hospitals worldwide are located in the United States. Barriers to becoming Baby-Friendly in the United States include the strength of the infant formula industry, suboptimal clinician ...

Despite the fact that spiritual care is an essential part of nursing care according to many nursing definitions, it appears to be quite different in practice. A spirituality training for nurses may be necessary to give spiritual care the attention it deserves. In a trial a pre-tested "spirituality and nursing care" training was provided to nurses from four different nursing wards in a non-acade...

BACKGROUND Massage therapy (MT) is becoming established as a recognized health care profession in Canada. It has been integrated as a core service in settings such as health spas, private integrative health centers, and there is indication that MT is starting to be integrated into hospitals. Research in the area of hospital-based MT has primarily focused on the efficacy, effectiveness, and incr...

Letizia Squarcina, Alberto De Luca, Marcella Bellani, Paolo Brambilla, Federico E Turkheimer, and Alessandra Bertoldo Section of Psychiatry, AOUI Verona, Verona, VR, Italy, Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, PD, Italy, University of Udine, Udine, UD, Italy, Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX, United Stat...

This cross-sectional study compared the provision of surgical sterilization in public health services in Greater Metropolitan Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil, and the characteristics of women and men who underwent sterilization before and after its legal regulation. Structured and pre-tested questionnaires were applied to 398 women, 15 directors of municipal family planning programs, and 15 c...