Social characteristics and their importance in reducing inequalities in health in the Armed Forces.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether there was a difference in social characteristics in different garrison towns of the British Forces Germany and to ascertain whether the health visitor workload was different in these towns. DESIGN: Self completed questionnaires administered to mothers by health visitors on first contact after delivery of their baby, and prospective follow up by health visitors recording subsequent contacts for the first three months after birth. SETTING: 97 mothers based in Bruggen, Fallingbostel and Rheindahlen who had just delivered their new-born baby. RESULTS: Response rates for Bruggen, Fallingbostel and Rheindahlen were 54.8%, 70.2% and 69.9% respectively. There was a significant difference between parents in Fallingbostel and Rheindahlen with higher levels of maternal smoking during pregnancy (p = 0.04), more fathers aged under 25 years (p = 0.004), lower paternal military rank (p = 0.003), and increased paternal absence of more than one month during the pregnancy (p = 0.001) in Fallingbostel. The characteristics in Bruggen were similar to those in Rheindahlen. The workload of the health visitors, was significantly increased in Fallingbostel in comparison to Rheindahlen (p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: The use of social characteristics as an assessment of need would allow appropriate targeted health promotion and education resulting in a reduction in the inequalities of health in the Armed Forces.