بررسي دانش و عملكرد كاركنان بهداشت و درمان استان مازندران نسبت به خواص و نحوه تجويز اسيدفوليك در زنان سن باروري ، سال 1383

Knowledge and practice of Mazandaran health and therapeutic staff about folic acid, 2004

Background and purpose: Considering the role of folic acid in preventing congenital malformation and other problems it is rutinely prescribed in Iran. In this study, knowledge and practice of Mazandaran health and therapeutic staff about folic acid were assessed in 2004. Materials and methods : This is a descriptive study on 400 health and therapeutic staff about folic acid. Data were collected via questionair check list. The subjects were divided into three categories of; good, medium and weak in terms of their knowledge and practice about folic acid. Correlation between awareness and clinical practice about folic acid and demographic characteristics were analyzed using X2 test. Results : Awareness of 64.8% of the subjects about folic acid was medium and only 20.1% of those had good awareness. Subjects with higher knowledge consulted more with childbearing age women during prequency. 81% of the subjects were aware of the relation between neural tube defects and folic acid deficiency. 4.47% of the subjects were aware of the relation between low birth weight and folic acid deficiency. Also 64% of subjects consulted pregnant women for folat intake. There was no correlation between gender and history of occupation with awareness and clinical practice about folic acid. Conclusion : Health and therapeutic staff were aware of the link between folat intake and neural tube defect, but less aware of other aspects of folat metabolism. Considering the beneficial effects of folic acid in prenuting cardiovascular diseases and cancer and also its importance to childbearing women, we recommend education at programs for the staff.