Journal of North Khorasan

Abstract

Background     & Objective:    National   program  of family  physician   (FP)  and  rural  assurance  was  started  in rural   and  urban   area   with   populations    less  than   20,000   people   in  2005   according    to  91 st  act  of  4th development   program.  This  survey  was  performed  to evaluate  knowledge   of people  having  rural  assurance about  facilities  they  can take benefit,  principles,   and conditions  of this  assurance   in FP program  in northern provinces  of Iran.

Methods:    This  cross-sectional    (descriptive   - analytic)   study  was  performed   in autumn  2008  in rural  and urban  areas with  populations   less than  20,000  people  at the universities  of Golestan,  Mazandaran,   Babol and Guilan  (43  districts).  Data  were  collected  by questionnaire   and  analyzed   by Chi-square   and Kendall's  Test using SPSS.

Results:   In this study,  among  1081 person  involved  in rural assurance,  the level of knowledge  for 33 person (3%)  with  rural  assurance   was  high,  for  416  person  (38.5%)  was  medium  and  for  632  (58.5%)  was  low. There was a significant  relationship   between  sex, age and education  level and level of knowledge.  There was no  significant   relationship   between   marital  status,  inhabitancy,  job  and  the  provinces   (universities   in this study)  and level of knowledge.

Conclusion:    In general,  the knowledge   of people  engaged  in rural assurance  about  principles,  facilities,  and conditions  was low. Therefore  it is necessary  to perform  educational  programs.