Strategies for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Maternal and Child Health: The "Ecologic" versus the "High Risk" Approach

Targeting preventive programs only to high-risk groups is not an effective strategy for reducing the overall incidence of such problems as low-weight babies, school failure, & child abuse. Prospective longitudinal studies show that the majority of children identified as being at risk for these p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of public health policy 1984-06, Vol.5 (2), p.185-197
Main Author: Chamberlin, Robert W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child care
Child development
Child Health Services
Child neglect
Child rearing
Child/Children/Childhood
Children
Communities
Community Health Services
Developing Countries
Disease/Diseases
Female
Health Promotion - methods
Health services
Humans
Maternal and infant welfare
Maternal Health Services
Maternal/Maternity
Medicine, Preventive
Parents
Population
Pregnancy
Prevention/Preventive
Preventive medicine
Primary Prevention
Public health
Risk
Scandinavian and Nordic Countries
School age children
United States
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Summary:Targeting preventive programs only to high-risk groups is not an effective strategy for reducing the overall incidence of such problems as low-weight babies, school failure, & child abuse. Prospective longitudinal studies show that the majority of children identified as being at risk for these problems do not develop them, & those that do make up only a small % of the total N of children who do. Countries using an "ecologic" strategy in which health, education, & support services are made available to all families in a given community have lower rates of all problems. These programs include maternal child health centers, home visitors, & home help aides. Although closely coordinated with the care given by MDs, most services are rendered by midwives, community health nurses, & trained lay home visitors. More efforts should be made in the US to test the cost effectivenes of such an approach at all levels. 1 Table, 55 References. Modified AA.
ISSN:0197-5897
1745-655X
DOI:10.2307/3342338