Place of residence as a health resort for rheumatic patients

This paper deals with institutional aspects of health promotion in relation to a research programme comprising five projects currently in operation in various regions of the Federal Republic of Germany. The aim of these projects, which are supported at the federal level, is to provide locally based, interdisciplinary care for rheumatic patients throughout the course of the disease. Different organizational means are applied by the different projects to realize these goals. The project described here started in 1985 in Unna, a small town of some 60,000 inhabitants located in the Ruhr area. It involves intensive efforts in health promotion, the aim being to firmly establish self-help activities in everyday life. The following gives an overview of the project, its objective, structure and programme--especially the "cure seminars" organized on an outpatient basis--and some of the difficulties encountered with regard to practical implementation and the long-term provision of health-oriented care. The last part of the paper deals with the research component of the model.