Development of a health administration system for inhabitants in local community without abnormal findings by health examination.
This study was to establish practical methods to apply to the community health promotion program the data obtained by surveys in a fishing village, under "The Health and Medical Services Law for the Aged." This data, together with guidelines on health counseling for inhabitants in the local community with less abnormal findings on health examination, could be used for developing a health promotion support system. In 1990, a questionnaire survey was carried out on lifestyle such as diet, exercise, and rest, of 1,497 inhabitants (557 males, 940 females) attending for a health examination under "The Health and Medical Services Law for the Aged," at Nishiizu district, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The questionnaire inquired about the subjects' health behavior and consciousness, i.e., on their dietary intake and preferences, dietary habits, regular exercise, exercise habits, and rest, both in fact as well as in perception. In 1991, a survey was also carried out on the daily physical activity and exercise of 1,737 inhabitants (620 males, 1,117 females) attending for a health examination under the law in the same district. The items measured were the daily physical activity, the exercise intensity, and the frequency score derived from several exercises. The relationship to the exercise score was made on the basis of the sex, age, daily physical activity, and the findings of the health examination as well as the self-evaluation of health. In 1992, based on these results and also on the know-how about the software made for similar purposes, "The Health Promotion Support System" for the personal computer was developed in order to help public health nurses perform health counseling for the local community. By means of this system, the answers concerning the health examination findings, habits, health conditions, etc., enabled us to obtain information about the appropriate amount of exercise needed for health, and of the total exercise time needed in a week at the level of 40% maximum oxygen intake. In order to ascertain the quality and effect of the program, the system was applied practically by the public health services, both at Nishiizu district and at Maruyama, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. A questionnaire survey was also conducted in Chiba Prefecture, the subjects were seven public health nurses. The results of this survey showed that the system was successfully applied to the people who received less care because of not having abnormal findings on the health examination.
Nakano
M
M
Department of Health Science, School of Nursing, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Japan.
Nojiri
M
M
Sato
Y
Y
Utsumi
K
K
Honda
M
M
Iwai
Y
Y
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012423:Rural Health; D012424:Rural Population