The Educational Intervention on People’s Behavior in terms of the Microbial Contaminations of Mobile Phones and the Possible Adverse Effects of their Beam

Background: Mobile phone is one of the most important necessary tools in today’s life which can threaten people’s health in some conditions. The present study was carried out to compare the effect of educational intervention by short message and pamphlet on the behavior of steel factory staff in Ardakan, Yazd province, Iran. Materials and Methods: The present study was experimentally carried out on 319 staff in three groups. The intended samples were selected using the cluster sapling method. The self-made questionnaire was employed as the data collection means having 15 questions about behavior assessment. The results were utilized once their validity (face and content) and reliability was confirmed. The obtained results were analyzed using the SPSS18 statistical software. Results: The average score of people’s behavior before the educational intervention in the three groups of control, intervention-short message, and intervention-pamphlet was 21.2, 21.1, and 20.7, respectively (P = 0.714). After educational intervention, the average behavior score of people in the control, intervention-short message, and intervention-pamphlet was increased by 27.74, 42.91, and 38.56, respectively (P ˂ 0.05). Conclusion: The educational short message and pamphlet would change the behaviors concerning the use of mobile phone among the staff members under study. However, the short message had a stronger effect on the people’s behavior than the pamphlet. Considering the importance of the mobile phone and its associated behaviors, the necessity of conducting health education intervention aiming at increasing the knowledge, it demonstrates the change of attitude and behavior among other members of the society.