A women's health shop: a unique experiment.

A women's health shop in Edinburgh was open for 16 months to provide information and advice in a non-clinical setting and to allow an interchange between informal and formal care in the community. Staffed by nurses, it was visited by 5664 women and 400 men, an average of 24 people each working day. The most popular topics for discussion were women's health problems, and 17% of women had a personal discussion with the nurse. The shop provided a useful and popular service and offered a practical method of furthering the concept of health promotion.