Affecting Factors on the Performance of Community Health Workers in Iran’s Rural Areas: A Review Article

BACKGROUND This study aimed to use a mixed-method approach to investigate affecting factors on the performance of Community Health Workers (CHW) in Iran's villages. METHODS This study was conducted during 2014-2015 with a mixed method in three phases of literature review, Delphi technique and developing a rich picture. Overall, in order to finalize the affecting factors and their relationships between qualitative content analysis, Delphi technique, AHP technique and Focus Group Discussion were used, respectively. RESULTS Affecting factors on CHW performance were divided into four main categories, 10 sub-themes and 35 contents. Increase in the level of people's awareness, disease patterns, demographic structure and lifestyle were placed in four priorities respectively on the basis of importance. CONCLUSION To the most extent CHW cannot face current needs of rural communities. It challenges equitable access to healthcare services and also conflicts with the primary philosophy of CHW presence in rural areas. CHW can be used in two forms; either as an assistant to rural family physicians or with the same previous functions.