Journal of School of Public Health and

Background and Aim: The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between educational practice of volunteer health workers (VHWs) and preventive behavior of households (HH) under their coverage regarding cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) based on the BASNEF model in Yazd City, Iran

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, all the 60 VHWs in the CL-endemic regions in Yazd City were interviewed and completed a valid and reliable questionnaire designed by the investigator. In addition, from among the households under coverage of each one of the VHWs, 2 HHs were selected randomly and their heads were interviewed and completed the relevant questionnaire (total n=120). Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: There was a positive correlation between the knowledge and attitude of VHWs and knowledge of the households, as well as between the VHWs' behavioral intention and households' behavior. Further analysis of the data also revealed a positive correlation between the enabling factors of VHWs and the knowledge, behavioral intention, enabling factors and behaviors of families, as well as between educational behavior of VHWs and knowledge, attitude and behavior of the families.

Conclusion: Volunteer health workers can potentially play an important role in case-finding, prevention and timely treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. However, merely promoting their awareness of the disease will not lead to improvements in their educational behavior in the community. More effective education aiming at promoting their awareness and enabling factors, as well as developing better attitude in them, will certainly result in better behavior of households and control of the disease

  In this article 40 years of Iranian experience in primary health care in west Azarbaijan and behvarzs is presented. In this regard quantitative development of PHC during this period will be discussed, moreover challenges and opportunities of this program will be analysed. Finally family physician program should be considered as an appropriate tool to achieve universal coverago of PHC in iran.

Background and Aim: The quality of life of community health workers (Behvarzes) is of special importance since they are in direct contact with the community offering health services to individuals and families. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of life of Behvarzes in Qazvin Province, Iran.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 406 male- and female-Behvarzes working in the health houses in Qazvin Province, Iran. Data were collected using the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF). The questionnaire was distributed in the Behvarzes’ monthly refresher training sessions and completed by them (self-administrated). Data were analyzed using SPSS version17.

Result: The average age of the participants was 35.4±  6.3 years. Analysis of the data showed the means of quality of life scores for physical, psychological, social and environment domains to be 50.81%, 53.00%, %53.96 and %35.7, respectively. In all domains, the score of quality of life for the Behvarzes with a high education level was significantly higher than those of others (p<0.001). In addition, marital status was significantly associated with the quality of life

 in all the domains (p<0.001) except in the environment domain (p=0.16).

Conclusion: The result of this study show that the quality of life of health workers (Behvarzes) is medium. Considering the importance of their work and the services they offer to the community, attempts should be made to improve their quality of life.