TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2013//
TI  - Effectiveness of a primary health care program on urban and rural community disaster preparedness, Islamic Republic of Iran: A community intervention trial
JO  - Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
A1  - Ardalan, Ali
A1  - Mowafi, Hani
A1  - Malekafzali Ardakani, Hossein
A1  - Abolhasanai, Farid
A1  - Zanganeh, Ali-Mohammad
A1  - Safizadeh, Hossein
A1  - Salari, Sirous
A1  - Zonoobi, Vahid
SP  - 481
EP  - 490
VL  - 7
IS  - 5
N2  - BACKGROUND: To evaluate the effectiveness of a capacity-building intervention administered through a primary health care (PHC) system on community disaster preparedness in Iran.     METHODS: A controlled community intervention trial with pre- and postassessments was conducted in 2011 in 3 provinces of Iran. In each province, 2 areas were chosen and randomly selected as an intervention or control group. A total of 9200 households were in the intervention area and 10 010 were in the control area. In each study group in each province 250 households were sampled for pre- and postassessment surveys. Community health volunteers led by PHC staff administered an educational intervention covering elements of hazard awareness and preparedness, with a focus on earthquakes and floods. Relative changes for awareness and readiness scores were assessed to demonstrate changes in outcome variables from pre- to postassessments in intervention and control groups. An effectiveness test of significance was based on interaction between time and area.     RESULTS: Households in intervention communities exhibited improved disaster awareness and readiness with respect to all outcome measures. Relative changes in awareness in intervention and control areas were 2.94 and -0.08, respectively (P < .001). Relative changes for readiness scores were 5.52 in intervention areas and 0.56 in control areas (P < .001). Relative changes for awareness and readiness were significantly correlated with a community's baseline risk perception and previous experience with natural disasters (P < .001).     CONCLUSIONS: An educational intervention administered through the PHC system effectively improved disaster awareness and readiness at a community level. For sustainability, community disaster reduction programs must be integrated into routine public health service delivery. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:481-490).<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1935-7893
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2013.93
ID  - ref1
ER  -