A neighborhood approach to maternal and child health in the Negro ghetto.

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Abstract
A setting for neighborhood-based health action is described which renders services pertinent to the neighborhood family life-cycle. This health action attempts to reflect the qualities and value commitments of lower class culture in the Negro ghetto: immediacy, concreteness, informality, spontaneity, personal peer communication and provision for a degree of significant decision-making power in its operation. The possibilities which this kind of setting offers to the lower class woman, in addition to the availability of its services, are opportunity for sociability, relief from child care activities and an outlet for creative energies in a familiar context. The setting can institute preventive health measures with more families through contact with their children, teach mental health concepts in a "natural environment," and provide sex education to teenage girls. The small size and flexible nature of the setting and the feedback afforded by neighborhood personnel enable the public health worker to learn new methods of teaching and new bases for professionallay relationships, to develop new audiovisual materials, and to test the effectiveness of various combinations of services among low-income families.