The Growing Need for Health Care of the Middle Classes in Central Europe 1880-1930

Abstract

After 1850 medicine took a new character, switching from a remedy for desperation to an everyday lifestyle habit. By examining the increase in recourse to medical care and ther data on the availability of beds in private nursing homes, it is possible to assess the economic and social changes which took place as well as the conditions of family life and relations to disease. In this context, the role of women and their influence on the other members of the family is fundamental.