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The purpose of this paper is: (1) to test, in two additional states, the applicability of a method devised by Ciocco in studying ‘intercounty movements’ relative to live births and to suggest some possible refinements to his method, and (2) to delineate certain ‘medical areas’ in these two states on the basis of the findings. In order to investigate these phenomena, the live births in each Michigan and Missouri county during 1952 were divided into two components—‘In-Residence’ and ‘Out-Residence’ births. Some possible explanations of variation of the ‘In-Residence’ ratios among the different counties ere examined in relation to three independent variables: (1) number of hospital beds per 1,000 population, (2) number of physicians relative to population, and (3) median family income. Ciocco's method is found to have some usefulness; but it is shown that each state should be examined separately, and other factors should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the paper on the research on sociological aspects of health. The report will describe these experiments and, in addition, will present in some detail the major steps of the study that are important to an understanding of the methodological aspects. The methodology of the current statewide health survey is actually a part of an extensive and varied research effort which is now being made in the sociology of health and health care throughout the U.S. The major purpose of the survey was to ascertain the extent of unmet need for medical attention by use of the symptoms approach among a representative sample of the population in Michigan. Other purposes were to obtain information about the availability and use of medical services, methods of paying for health care, attitudes regarding physicians and medical care, and the attributes and characteristics of people which might be related to all three of these areas.

The American Sociological Association (ASA) co-operated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the annual meeting, December, 1961 by contributing two sessions on Medical Sociology to the Program of Section K-Social and Economic Sciences. The papers in this symposium were devoted to discussing some of the major problems that have emerged as foci of interest in the rapidly developing collaborative relationships between the social sciences and the health and medical professions. One dramatic indication of the phenomenal growth of these relationships is the fact that the recently established Section on Medical Sociology of the ASA now has over 700 registered members, the great majority of whom are engaged in research in one or another aspect of the health field. The administrative sciences are those disciplines that are useful in planning, organizing, and facilitating the provision of health and medical services, and Demerath identified six focal points in medical-care administration where strategic applications can be made of the research findings of these disciplines.

The article presents news and announcements related to the field of sociology that appeared in the February 1967 issue of the journal "American Sociologist." American Orthopsychiatric Association will be holding its 44th annual meeting on March 20-23, 1967 in Washington, D.C. The American Public Health Association has invited contributed papers for the Medical Care Section Program of its 95th annual meeting. The Arkansas Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, University of Arkansas, and Arkansas State Rehabilitation Service offers a symposium on "Effective Interpersonal Relationships that Produce Behavior Change." The Department of the Army has established a Personnel Research Division within the Directorate of Personnel Studies and Research. Association of Specialist Libraries has formed a Criminology Group to bring together those concerned with documentation in the field of criminology. The Sociological Consultants Group of North Attlehoro, Massachusetts, an interdisciplinary firm of behavioral scientists is providing research and consultation services for the analysis of human behavior for industrial, commercial, and civic purposes.

This article studies the factors associated with the acceptance of health care practices among rural families. In this exploratory study, the general procedure consisted of constructing an index of adoption of recommended health care measures, which was considered to be the dependent variable. This index was then related to a series of social and economic independent variables. A random sample of households was drawn by the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State College. Data were obtained for 611 sample households by means of personal interviews conducted by graduate students in rural sociology. This study points up the applicability of the developing body of theory and method in one area of technological change to changes in human behavior associated with health care practices. The agreement of the findings in these two seemingly unrelated areas of human behavior point toward the application of this approach to other areas of social change. Explanation is needed as to why certain health care measures have been more highly accepted than others and why the acceptance of certain practices varies from one social group to the other and yet with others differs little from group to group.

Roots of the increasingly close collaboration between sociology and medical care are to be found partly in a common interest in certain aspects of disease and therapy and partly in their similarity of approach to research problems. This article reports a study in the sociology of medical care that is characterized not only by the multiplicity of disciplines represented in it, but also by the cross-cultural comparisons which it introduces. It is concerned with the contribution that the study makes to the refinement and development of social theory, and especially to the theory of illness and sick-role behaviour given by sociologist T. Parson. The article presents data from three small-scale populations surveys, in different cultures to examine some of the components of Parsons' analysis of illness and sick-role behaviour. Central issues concern the criteria that define entry into and performance in the sick role, and they are both conceptual and methodological issues. The underlying objective is to examine sociology of illness and illness behaviour.

The increased size of unit required to deliver modern medical care, combined with the effect of rural population shifts in the last half century, has made modern medicine more and more an urban development. The result has been gradual depletion of the supply of health personnel and facilities in rural as compared with urban areas. Among the efforts to reverse this trend are the special emphasis on needs of rural areas in the Hill-Burton hospital survey and construction program; the inclusion of rural experience as part of the training of physicians; the organization of services on an area-wide basis, bringing the isolated physician and the small rural clinic or hospital into a working relationship with larger medical centers; and the activity of citizens' health councils. Current research and demonstrations need to be extended, and new types of research and demonstration must be developed. Rural sociologists, home economists, physicians, and other professional personnel, as well as the rural family and community groups, all have a role to play in coördinated efforts to equalize rural and urban health opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years public concern for and interest in expanding medical and health resources have resulted in a marked increase in the creation of such facilities. It is generally accepted by all authorities in the health field that designing a medical program of acceptable standard requires the provision for a sound and effective social work program. The administrative problems and needs which are inherent in organizing any social service unit are similar regardless of setting. The patient in a medical setting has come tot he installation requesting and requiring medical care in the first instance. The function of the medical setting is to meet this need through the provision of medical administrator is to establish a medical program.