Why do contact frequencies with general practice of family members resemble each other? Many aspects related to the clustering of health-care utilisation within families have been studied, but the underlying mechanisms have not been addressed. This article considers whether family similarity in...

This article aimed to test the general hypothesis that guidelines create uniformity, or reduce variation, in medical practice. Medical practice variation has policy interest and is one of the reasons for developing guidelines. The development and implementation of guidelines was considered in...

Several studies have shown a positive relationship between local greenspace availability and residents' health, which may offer opportunities for health improvement. This study focuses on three mechanisms through which greenery might exert its positive effect on health: stress reduction,...

Purpose – To guide organizations toward total quality management (TQM), various models have been developed such as the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model (EFQM Model). The purpose of this paper is to conduct a longitudinal investigation of whether the EFQM Model can...

Great variation in referral rates between primary care physicians has been the main reason to influence physician's referral behaviour, by for example, stimulating extra services. This study investigated the extent to which the number of therapeutic and diagnostic services performed by primary...

In order to gain insight into the relation between health and people's environment, literature published between 1985 and 1994 was gathered from several international databases. An introduction into existing theory regarding geographic disparities is presented: geographical drift and breeder...

The authors investigate whether the percentage of green space in people’s living environment affects their feelings of social safety positively or negatively. More specifically they investigate the extent to which this relationship varies between urban and rural areas, between groups in the...

Are people living in greener areas healthier than people living in less green areas? This hypothesis was empirically tested by combining Dutch data on the self-reported health of over 10 000 people with land-use data on the amount of greenspace in their living environment. In the multilevel...