Personal health practices of urban adults in Alabama: Davis Avenue Community Study.

The need to establish baseline data on and monitor the personal health practices and beliefs of adults in a community served by health care facilities is well documented. The purpose of the survey was to determine health care practices, personal health behaviors, and health services use of the adults living in the Davis Avenue Community (DAC), a six-census tract area located in Mobile, AL. The DAC's population is approximately 95 percent black. Using methods developed by the National Center for Health Statistics, 402 adults between the ages of 20 and 69 years were interviewed by telephone by trained personnel to ascertain the health-related characteristics of residents in this health services area. Information collected in this survey provided the staff of the Franklin Memorial Primary Health Center, who provide primary health care in the area, with an empirical base on which to plan and market health promotion and education programs for the health services area.