The activities and services of the public health nurses during home visits in a Southwestern county health department were examined through a record audit The data were taken from 186 client records representing 774 home visits. Seventy-nine percent of the sample nursing intenrentions were for health counseling and education. The records reviewed reflected nursing activities on the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention.

Pender's modification of the health belief model was used to examine the motivations for breast-feeding in a group of 140 primiparous women along the US-Mexican border. The backward elimination technique of linear regression was used to order the variables in the model. The findings indicate that the three components of the health belief model--individual perceptions, modifying factors, and likelihood of action--are useful in predicting health-related outcomes. Each component of the model made an independent contribution to the breast-feeding decision but varied in the strength of the contribution. The only significant interpersonal influence on the feeding decision was that of the husband or partner. More empirical research with the model is necessary, however, in order to develop it as a paradigm for prenatal health.

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