@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2383-2150    Journal of Education and Community Health 2014;1(1):27-35

Background
The ever increasing growth of human knowledge causes significant changes in human life [1]. Modern technologies is replaced by the old ones quickly and provides the powerful tools for users. These technologies will be accepted in case that the staffs accept them and use them efficiently[2]. ....[3-6]. As the main objective of health education is improving the designed plans to effect on the behavioral characteristics of addreesees and finally enhancing the health level in targeted groups, thus choosing more effective pratctices of health education to attract the addreesees and transferring the knowledge and health skills by means of true and appropriate messages to them is one of the fundemental stages for implementing educational programs[7]. On the other hand, development of education health in the society and work places can be highly effective in progression and promotion of health and decreasing supplies and costs of health care services [8].
Previous Studies
...[9-11]. A study in the US showed that people with lower socioeconomic status use TV, pamphlet and newspaper and people with medium socioeconomic status use TV, Journal and pamphlet respectively to acquire the health and prevention information , but the favorite information sources relating to health among the educated people are Internet, TV and journal respectively[10,11]. The study by Hesse et al. Showed that the most and earliest information sources used by individuals above 18 years old, are Internet, specialized centers and clinics, books and journals of medical sciences [9]. One international study about information sources relating to preventive behaviours between 2005-2007 showed that the printed media and personal information sources including family, friends, social organizations and providers of services were the main sources for screening cancer, respectively. ...[12-14]. İn an investigation of articles, no similar study in Iran was found. But in studies which information resources relating to health issues were investigated, its was reported that books, journals, thesises and educational films and slides, were used by the nurses of faculty members mostly[3]. ...[15-18]. But there was not any study relating to the investigation of information resources on the targeted groups , that is the medical staffs.
Aim(s)
Regarding to the importance of recognizing the inclinations of target group to the process of education and considering the role of health staffs as the efficient individuals and as administrators of public health promotion and distribution, this study aimed to determine the attitude and performance in Health information resources and health staffs of Kerman University of medical sciences.
Research type
This study is descriptive-analytic study.
Research society, place and time
This study was done in 2013. In this study, all of the health staffs of Health information resources and the affiliated parts were investigated.
Sampling method and number
The sampling method in this study was thorough census and the number of participants was 223.
Used devices&materials
The data collection instrument was researcher - made questionnaire. So that after the library studying and reviewing the performed studies , a questionnaire about the attitude and function of staffs relating to the health information resources was prepared by the researchers. In this study, the educational media were classified into digital media (internet, websites, office automation, email, Bluetooth, SMS, games, CDs and educational films), audiovisual (radio educational programs, TV documentaries, promotional messages, radio-TV teasers, TV films, animations and TV cartoons) and printed media (books, pamphlets, journals, newspapers, posters, leaflets, bulletin boards, and banners). To determine the scientific validity of the questionnaire, the method of content validity was used. To assess the reliability and internal congruence of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha test was used (α=0.9). The criteria of judgement for data analysis was the number of answers to questions. The attitude and function was ranked into three levels of weak (below 50%), medium (50-75%) and good (above 75%) based on the percentage of answers to questions. The range of scores relating to attitude varied between 23-115 and the scores relating to functions varied between 22-110. İn order to meet the ethical codes in the research, the coded questionnaires, anonymous and confidentioanl were used. The participents were included in the study with personal satisfaction and without any obligation. Statistical analysis Data were analysed via SPSS 20 and using the descriptive tests (mean, SD and frequency) and analytic tests (Pearson correlation coefficient and Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests). The significance level for all of the tests was considered less than 0.005.
Findings by Text
The age range of participents in the study was 21-52 with mean age of 37.27±8.3 ( mean age for males was 40.13±7.33 and for females was 35.57±8.52). The number of years of serving in participants varied between 1-29 with mean of 14.07±8.2 and the majority of them was female (63.7%) and had bachelor degree (67.3%). 23.3 % of samples were serving in Health Department and the rest were working in Health Centers of towns . Also 76.7% of samples have accessed to internet (Table 1). Statistical Analysis showed that there is no any significant relationship between the scores of attitudes in particiants and the variables such as age, gender, education and working experience. Also there was no significant relationship between the score of funcions in participants and demographic variables (Table 2).Data analysis suggested that the mean scores of attitude to health information resources was 90.79±10.18. There was a positive and direct relationship between the scores of attitudes and scores of function (p<0.001; r=0.308; Table 2). Also , the mean and classification of attitude and function scores were described as educational tools in health sector in Table 3 with regard to various media such as digital, audiovisual and printed media and suugested that the attitudes of participants to the type of media was different and significant statistically (p<0.001). In statistical analysis , the function of participants to the type of media was different. In spite that the percentage of good function in all three groups was low but in digital media , the percentage of weak function to two audiovisual and printed media was high (71.4%), on the other hand, the function to printed media was better (tendancyto using printed media was high) and this relationship was statistically significant (p<0.001).
Main comparison to the similar studies
In the study by Mehdizadeh et al. [2], the extent of using modern technologies among the staffs of Ilam University of medical Sciences were assessed in a low level. … [12, 18]. In the studies done about using the health information resources in various target groups in Iran, TV, books, newspaper and journals were considered as the most favorite information resources [3, 13, 19] which the results of these studies are consistent with those of the present studies. …[9,10, 16]. The results of studies by Kahooei et al. suggested that the nurses under study were not so inclined to use the printed books in clinical decisions and they receive the required information from other colleagues [20]. In the study by Mehdizadeh et al., the inability of staffs in implementing the software and applications was declared as a challenge in modern technologies [2]. The positivity of attitude of more than 90% of participants to website of medical universities and health department as health information resources was other result of this study. Dutta-Bergman study which comapred and assessed the reliability of information resources relating to the online health from the viewpoint of consumers in USA approves this result. ...[21-24].
Suggestions
It is suggested that a similar study with a public target group be implemented in order to determine the manner of using health information resources in society. It is also suggested that educational interventions be designed and implemented in order to enhance the attitude and function of health experts focusing on digital media and on the other hand enhancing the facilities and infrastructures such as making the required hardware and software available seems necessary.
Limitations
The main limitation of this research is lack of generalization of the results of this study because the studied population was the health staffs working in health centers and subsidiary towns and the infrastructures of information resources were provided by the organization.
Conclusions
The attitude of most of the health staffs under the study to the health information resources was medium and their function was weak and, their functions to the use of instructional media increase by increasing the attitude.
Acknowledgments
We necessarily acknowledge and thank all of whom cooperated and aided in this study.
Conflict of interest
None declared
Ethical Permissions
None declared
Funding Sources
This article is extracted from the research proposal under the title “investigation of attitude and function of medical staffs in Kerman university of Medical Sciences in the area of health information resources approved by Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2013 with No. 91/206, which was enforced by support of Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

TABLES and CHARTS

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