National TV smoking cessation program and contest in Finland.

Background: In the fall of 1986 the North Karelia Project in cooperation with Finnish TV 2 arranged an eight-part nationwide smoking cessation TV program. The Project, also arranged a smoking cessation contest coinciding with the TV program in cooperation with four major voluntary public health organizations and the national health service. The TV program featured two studio groups of local volunteers: one from Turku (southwestern Finland) and the other from North Karelia, where there was more intensive community support for the activity.

Trends and determinants of ischaemic heart disease mortality in Finland: with special reference to a possible levelling off in the early 1980s.

There has been a general decline in mortality from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in Finland since the beginning of the 1970s. An intensified preventive programme was started in the province of North Karelia in 1972. Between 1974 and 1979 the decline in IHD mortality in North Karelian men was steeper than that in the rest of Finland.

Results of a one-year worksite and mass media based intervention on health behaviour and chronic disease risk factors.

The North Karelia Worksite Intervention Study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of worksite-based innovative intervention on chronic disease risk factors. The one-year intervention combined use of mass media, worksite opinion leaders, risk assessment and counselling and other health education measures. The study used eight medium sized intervention worksites (IW) and eight matched reference worksites (RW).

A television format for national health promotion: Finland's "Keys to Health".

A series of televised risk reduction and health promotion programs have been broadcast in Finland since 1978. The five series of programs were the product of a cooperative effort by Finland's television channel 2 and the North Karelia Project. The series has featured a group of volunteers who are at high risk of diseases because of their unhealthful habits and two health educators who counsel the studio group and the viewers to make changes in health behaviors.