Chapter 4. Subjects and methods

Table of Contents
4.1. Health centre of Oulainen
4.2. Criteria for a frequent attender
4.3. Study population
4.4. Study design
4.5. Variables
4.6. Statistical analyses
4.7. Approval by Ethical Committee

4.1. Health centre of Oulainen

The study was carried out in the health centre of Oulainen, which is a small country town with about 8200 inhabitants located in Northern Ostrobothnia in Finland. Oulainen belongs to the Public Health District of Oulainen together with its neighbouring municipalities Vihanti and Merijärvi. The main health centre of the Oulainen Health District is located in Oulainen. There are six GPs working in the health centre. The public primary health care facility is the most important way to access health care services, and only a small part of health services (approximately 10%) are obtained from the private medical sector in Oulainen.