A survey of local health personnel and decision makers concerning the North Karelia project: A community program for control of cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

The North Karelia project was established to carry out a comprehensive community program for control of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in North Karelia (NK), a county in eastern Finland. After a 5-year intervention period, a survey was taken of physicians, public health nurses, and local decision makers in the county, and those in a matched reference area, in order to assess their experiences concerning CVD control. Questionnaire data were obtained from 354 physicians (76% of total), 340 nurses (94% of total), and 1,229 decision makers (89% of total). The results generally confirmed the effectiveness of the more active work in CVD control of the health personnel in NK compared with the reference area. The decision makers in NK had not personally initiated more CVD control activities, but had been more frequently subjected to them. All these groups showed much greater satisfaction concerning the adequacy of CVD control activities in NK compared with those in the reference area. © 1981.