The Bridgewater family project: urban isolation and health

The establishment of a health centre linked to the University of Tasmania in a new housing estate in an outer suburb of Hobart presented a unique opportunity to study the health and illness of the community. A representative group of 200 families was interviewed personally about their family structure, health, illness and lifestyles. The sample of families selected corresponded well to the total population when compared with information from census data. This paper describes the objectives of the Bridgewater family project and the preliminary results that have identified separate groups of patients for closer study. Single-parent families made up 23% of the sample; only 9% of the single mothers were working. One-quarter of the men were unemployed and 14% admitted that they had been in trouble with the police. One-third of the fathers and 22% of the mothers smoked more than 25 cigarettes per day. One-third of the men drank more than 100 g of alcohol per day (the proportion of women was much smaller). These groups of patients are considered to be at risk to their health. As part of the larger study, the medical records of those who attended the local health centre were concurrently analysed to assess the morbidity of the family members and this information will be the subject of a further report.