A Century Later: Rural Public Health's Enduring Challenges and Opportunities.

The US public health community has demonstrated increasing awareness of rural health disparities in the past several years. Although current interest is high, the topic is not new, and some of the earliest public health literature includes reports on infectious disease and sanitation in rural places. Continuing through the first third of the 20th century, dozens of articles documented rural disparities in infant and maternal mortality, sanitation and water safety, health care access, and among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Current rural research reveals similar challenges, and strategies suggested for addressing rural-urban health disparities 100 years ago resonate today. This article examines rural public health literature from a century ago and its connections to contemporary rural health disparities. We describe parallels between current and historical rural public health challenges and discuss how strategies proposed in the early 20th century may inform current policy and practice. As we explore the new frontier of rural public health, it is critical to consider enduring rural challenges and how to ensure that proposed solutions translate into actual health improvements. (Am J Public Health. 2020;110:1678-1686. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305868).

Midwife and Public Health Nurse Tatsuyo Amari and a State-Endorsed Birth Control Campaign in 1950s Japan.

Mrs. Tatsuyo Amari, a qualified midwife and nurse, served Japan's state-endorsed birth control campaign as a "birth control field instructor" in rural Minamoto Village of Yamanashi Prefecture just west of Tokyo. Her work sheds light on the role of female health-care workers in health and population governance in 1950s Japan. Amari not only facilitated the "top-down" transfer of the state-sanctioned idea of birth control and contraceptives, as did other birth control field instructors, but also enabled the "bottom-up" flow of knowledge about people's reproductive lives through her participation in the policy-oriented birth control research called the "three model-village study." Contextualizing Amari's engagement with the study elucidates how the state relied on the established role of female health-care workers as intermediaries between the state and the people. Finally, Amari's contribution to the scientific aspect of the campaign may motivate historians to recognize the politics around the participation of female health-care workers in the science of birth control.

Cornerstone Documents, Milestones, and Policies: Shaping the Direction of Public Health Nursing 1890-1950.

The interplay of policy, milestone events, and cornerstone documents was critical in the evolution of the specialty of public health nursing (PHN) from 1890-1950. Using our contemporary lens, this article examines PHN development from an historical perspective, including events and milestones driving growth in the early 20th century. Some of the challenges faced by our founding public health nursing leadership are not unlike challenges we face today. In 1950, Ruth Hubbard, a former leader in the National Organization of Public Health Nurses and Director of the Visiting Nurse Society of Philadelphia, spoke of the value of examining the past to forge a new future. This article calls for contemporary public health nurses to act upon the lessons learned from the past, to strengthen the renewed focus on prevention, to develop policies that impact population health, and to foster a vision that will guide us into the future.

The image of care delivery by public health nurses as disseminated in Revista da Semana (1929).

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the images of Public Health Nurses in care delivery to society, disseminated by the Revista da Semana, in 1929. METHOD: historical-semiotic study. The documents used were images, to which an analysis matrix was applied, including fashion and body language literature, besides others to address the study object. The data were interpreted in the light of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's notions of object representations and body hexis. RESULTS: the distinctive use of uniforms for the Public Health Nurses' activities was a non-verbal communication strategy to gain visibility and credibility during home visits . CONCLUSIONS: Public Health Nurses were particularly responsible for patient care and guidance to prevent illnesses, with a view to the qualitative development of Public Health. The intent in this study was to produce knowledge on image records about nurses' care practice at the National Public Health Department's School of Nurses, as well as to strengthen Public Health Nursing History research in Brazil, thus contributing to a better understanding about the construction process of nurses' image.

The image of care delivery by Public Health Nurses as disseminated in Revista da Semana (1929) / A imagem do cuidado prestado pelas enfermeiras de saúde pública veiculada na Revista da Semana (1929) / La imagen del cuidado prestado por las Enfermeras de Salud Pública publicada en la Revista de la Semana (1929)

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the images of Public Health Nurses in care delivery to society, disseminated by the Revista da Semana, in 1929. METHOD: historical-semiotic study. The documents used were images, to which an analysis matrix was applied, including fashion and body language literature, besides others to address the study object. The data were interpreted in the light of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's notions of object representations and body hexis. RESULTS: the distinctive use of uniforms for the Public Health Nurses' activities was a non-verbal communication strategy to gain visibility and credibility during home visits . CONCLUSIONS: Public Health Nurses were particularly responsible for patient care and guidance to prevent illnesses, with a view to the qualitative development of Public Health. The intent in this study was to produce knowledge on image records about nurses' care practice at the National Public Health Department's School of Nurses, as well as to strengthen Public Health Nursing History research in Brazil, thus contributing to a better understanding about the construction process of nurses' image.

OBJETIVO: analisar as imagens das enfermeiras de saúde pública na prestação dos cuidados à sociedade, no ano 1929, veiculadas pela Revista da Semana. MÉTODO: estudo histórico-semiótico. Os documentos utilizados foram imagéticos, aos quais foi aplicada uma matriz de análise e escritos, incluindo literatura da moda, linguagem corporal e outras de aproximação com o objeto de estudo. Os dados foram interpretados à luz das noções de representações objetais e hexis corporal do sociólogo Pierre Bourdieu. RESULTADOS: constatou-se que a distinção no uso dos uniformes, para as atividades executadas pelas enfermeiras de saúde pública, era uma estratégia de comunicação não verbal para se fazer ver e fazer crer nas visitas domiciliares. CONCLUSÃO: cabia à enfermeira de saúde pública, em especial, prestar cuidados aos doentes e orientá-los no sentido de se prevenir doenças, em prol do desenvolvimento da qualidade da saúde pública. O estudo teve a intenção de produzir conhecimento sobre registros imagéticos da prática do cuidado realizado pela enfermeira da Escola de Enfermeiras do Departamento Nacional de Saúde Pública, e fortalecer as pesquisas de história da enfermagem em saúde pública, no Brasil, contribuindo para um melhor entendimento do processo de construção da imagem da enfermeira.

OBJETIVO: fue analizar las imágenes de las Enfermeras de Salud Pública en la prestación de los cuidados a la sociedad, en el año de 1929, publicadas por la Revista de la Semana. MÉTODO: estudio histórico-semiótico. Los documentos utilizados fueron fotografías (a las cuales les fue aplicada la técnica de análisis de imágenes), y textos, incluyendo literatura de la moda, lenguaje corporal y otras de aproximación con el objeto de estudio. Los datos fueron interpretados a la luz de las nociones de representaciones objetales y hexis corporal del sociólogo Pierre Bourdieu. RESULTADOS: se constató que la distinción en el uso de los uniformes, para las actividades ejecutadas por las Enfermeras de Salud Pública, era una estrategia de comunicación no verbal para hacerse ver y hacerse creer en las visitas domiciliares. CONCLUSIÓN: la Enfermera de Salud Pública es responsable, especialmente, por ofrecer cuidados a los enfermos y orientarlos en el sentido de prevenir enfermedades, en pro del desarrollo de la calidad de la Salud Pública. El estudio tuvo la intención de producir conocimiento sobre registros de imágenes acerca de la práctica del cuidado realizado por la enfermera de la Escuela de Enfermeras del Departamento Nacional de Salud Pública, y fortalecer las investigaciones de la Historia de la Enfermería en Salud Pública, en Brasil, contribuyendo para entender mejor el proceso de construcción de la imagen de la enfermera.