Comparison of distance education regarding primary health care effect on knowledge of Behvarz and other health team members

Abstract Introduction: Health Education is the first and most important step in health care. Therefore it is necessary to pay more attention to personnel education. Objective: The goal of study was to compare effect of distance education on knowledge of Behvarz and other health team members regarding primary health care. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 185 employed personnel at health centers in Kashan University of Medical Sciences participated. Educational booklet was sent to the health centers and samples took an exam after two months. Data were gathered by a 90 question researcher made questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired T-test. Results: The highest percentage of correct responses by Behvarz was related to drug need estimation in the health house (5.59±0.34), by technicians and experts of anti-illness (4.55±0.223), and family health experts and technicians and midwives (4.48±0.221). The lowest percentage of correct answers was too related to physical activity pyramid in technicians and experts of anti-illness (2.35±0.342), familiarity with figures by family health experts and technicians and midwives (3.1±0.35) and physical activity pyramid by Behvarz (2.78±0.23). In attention to study findings, there were no significant differences between the knowledge of study groups (technicians and experts of anti-illness, technician and family health expert, and midwives and Behvarz). Conclusion: Due to the lack of significant differences between knowledge level of Behvarz and other health team members in most comparisons, educational programs in PHC for health professionals to increase their awareness of community health promotion appears to be necessary and useful.