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Health Education
Talks accompanied by films and discussion groups
were held at all our infant welfare and ante-natal
clinics and at mothercraft sessions.
Talks and lectures on health subjects including
smoking and health, cervical cytology and the
care of the elderly, were given by the professional
staff to various groups and organisations. The
talks were illustrated by films, filmstrips and other
visual aids.
The medical officer responsible for the student
health service gave a course of lectures to students
at the two polytechnic colleges on a wide variety
of health matters including community health
services, venereal diseases, alcohol, smoking and
drugs.
The medical and nursing staff were shown films
on a number of topics and these were followed
by lively discussions.
During the year posters depicting health
subjects were displayed on public notice boards
throughout the borough. Posters were also
displayed on public buildings, shops and factories.
Topical health subjects were included in the
borough's monthly news sheet 'Progress'. In the
field of publicity we have enjoyed the co-operation
of Mr R C Skinner, the Council's press and
information officer.
Home Safety
Mr Jones, home safety officer, reports as follows:-
'The Home Safety Committee has continued its
efforts to reduce the appalling number of accidents
that occur in and around the home. With this fact
in mind arrangements were made early in the
year to hold a home safety conference at Chiswick
Town Hall, in co-operation with the Greater
London Home Safety Council, to which all 32
London boroughs were invited to appoint
delegates. The conference was chaired by the
Mayor of the London Borough of Hounslow
(Alderman F J Jansen JP MInstMMBIM) and
was considered by all delegates attending to be
an outstanding success. This activity was also
coupled with a Buy For Safety Exhibition
staged at Chiswick Town Hall, which
opened for a week, and included stands and
exhibits provided by leading national
manufacturers, drawing the attention of the public
to the need when buying equipment for the home
to buy with safety in mind. Some thousands of
the public visited the exhibition during the period.
Continued assistance has been given to girls
training under the Duke of Edinburgh Award
Scheme in the provision of instruction and
assessment in regard to the service section of the
scheme. The attention of the public has been
drawn to home safety posters, displayed at public
offices in the borough, by staging home safety
poster competitions in which competitors were
asked to select posters which in their opinion had
the greatest impact, and by this method ensuring
the posters were studied in detail, which might
not otherwise be the case.
'Talks and film shows on the question of home
safety have been given regularly to children
attending schools in the borough, and all requests
for speakers to attend other organisations in the
borough have been accepted.'
The Hounslow Project. An operational research
and experiment into human social functioning
Mr E Heimler AAPSW, social work organiser
and advisor on health education, and Miss L J
Dighton, psychiatric case worker, report as
follows:—
'From 1st April 1965 research has been taking
place into the nature of human social functioning
to assess, evaluate and interpret areas of human
life in which people function or fail. It was found
that social functioning is associated with a sense of
satisfaction in life in five main interacting areas
(work/interest, financial, social relationships,
family relationships and the more personal areas
of life), and failure with a sense of frustration.
'From April 1965 until February 1966 a local
survey was made of the needs and problems of
the community at large to enable the research
workers to identify those groups in the community
who had specific problems, ie the elderly, oneparent
families and other groups exposed to stress.
'From the beginning of 1966 until February
1967, the research also concentrated on developing
and refining a Scale of Social Functioning that had
come into existence during work with the long-
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