Background and Objective: Household hazardous wastes can pose significant risks to the environment, increase the death rate and dangerous diseases due to their quantity, concentration or physical, chemical, or biological quality. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of educational intervention on the knowledge and attitude of health workers (Behvarzes) and health care workers of Ardestan city regarding household hazardous waste management.
Materials and Methods: This research was a semi-experimental interventional study conducted among 64 healthcare workers of the Ardestan health network in Isfahan province. A valid and reliable questionnaire was used to collect data. The data were entered into SPSS version 22 software for statistical analysis and analyzed through Mann-Whitney, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and paired T-tests.
Results: After the training, the average knowledge scores of Behvarzes and health-care workers in the sample group increased from 22.56±1.65 to 26.78±0.66, and their average attitude scores also increased from 89.37±2.67 to 95.31±2.71. The paired T-test showed a significant difference in the mean and standard deviation of knowledge and attitude scores in the intervention group before and after the intervention (p<0.05). The independent T-test did not show any difference in this regard according to the gender variable. The ANOVA test showed a significant difference between the different education groups after the intervention regarding the change in knowledge score or attitude according to education level (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the educational intervention for Behvarzes and healthcare workers was effective in raising their awareness and improving their attitudes towards the importance of household hazardous waste managemnt. Considering that the improvement of the household hazardous waste management system requires enhanced public awareness and attitude, as well as effective communication between Behvarzes, healthcare workers, and citizens, city managers can use the method employed in this study to organize regular training programs on household hazardous waste management.
