Educational Needs Assessment of Family Health Providers in Tabriz Health Care Centers in 2015

Background: This study intends to determine the educational needs of family health staff employed in health care centers in Tabriz, the provincial capital of east Azerbaijan, Iran in 2015.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study 282 staff were enrolled, together with 22 managers, through census. The data collection tool was a researcher-designed questionnaire whose content validity were confirmed by 5 experts of health care and medical education centers. They self--evaluated their knowledge, skills and attitudes in 6 task processes including “integrated care for pregnant women”, “women’s general and reproductive health”, “child health care and breastfeeding”, “vaccination skills”, “teenagers’ and young adults’ health”, and “common diseases prevention and control”. Cronbach alpha coefficients were over 0.85. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 16 and descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and one-sample t tests were calculated to compare the mean of scores with midpoint criteria (=3).

Results: Generally family health staff self-evaluated their knowledge, skills and attitudes in all task processes in higher than midpoint criteria level, which was consistent with the opinions of the managers, however, educational needs required by personnel in some processes or sub- process including “common diseases prevention and control” ( knowledge on referring thalassemia couples for genetic testing, mental health counseling), “vaccination skills” ( intradermal vaccination skills), “teenagers’ and young adults’ health” (Self-care training and parents education), “women’s general and reproductive health” (principles of family planning counseling) and less needs stated in “integrated care for pregnant mothers” (except for diagnosis and management of ectopic pregnancy, placenta previa and abruption) and “child health care” as compared to criteria (All P value <0.05). In contrast to self-assessment results, in interorganization evaluations at the same period, staff performance were not desirable in some processes and/or sub-processes.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated the educational needs of family health providers in 6 task processes and prioritized them according to their views. Regular and comprehensive educational needs assessments are required to revise staff training programs, in order to give quality services to general population.