Knowledge and attitude of the personnel of Mazandaran family health centers toward vasectomy in, 2002

Introduction: Progress of each society depends on correct design in different fields such as population and birth control. One of the problems in family planning program in our country is low cooperation of men in family planning and the low percentage of users of vasectomy method is a proof of this problem. This research is conducted to analyze the knowledge and attitude of family health staff who are the most important counselors of family planning. Methods: This is an analytical and descriptive research in which 7 cities of the province were randomly selected as clusters. In each cluster then attitude and knowledge of all staff was collected using pre-designed questionnaires. The results were analyzed using SPSS statistical software and Chi-square. Results: Most of the family health staff had a moderate (67.9%) knowledge 20.8% good and 11.3% had poor knowledge toward vasectomy. Knowledge had a significant relationship with educational level and educational field (p<0.01) but didn’t have relationship with state of marriage, number of children, employment position, resources of information and birth control method. 92.3% had a positive attitude and 7.7% a neutral attitude toward vasectomy, while 83% of the subjects agreed with this method for their family, only 2.7% used this method. Conclusion: Concerning the research results, attempts should be made towards advancement of knowledge and promotion of attitude to vasectomy. This can not, be attained unless classes and educational programs to increase knowledge get underway