Journal of Research in Environmental Health

Journal of Research in Environmental Health

A survey on the knowledge of Environmental Health Officers in regard to the executive process of the legal item13

Authors
Rouya Peiravi 1
Mohammad Vahedian-Shahroodi 2
Hossein Alidadi 3
Malihe Noori Sistani 4
1 Faculty member, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of public health and management, school of Health, Health Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
3 Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences,Mashhad, Iran
4 M.sc Department of Public Health, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran
10.22038/jreh.2015.5257
Abstract
Background and objective: Environmental Health Officers (EHO) being essential members of health systems play a key role in the prevention of disease and the environmental sanitation by consulting, inspecting, monitoring and law enforcing (if it’s necessary). Protection of the environment and promotion of
the community health need to enforce strict rules so that the adverse effects of environmental pollution reduced as much as possible. This study was carried out to survey the knowledge of Environmental Health Officers about the executive process of legal item 13.

Materials and Method: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2014, after testing the validity and reliability of questionnaire, they were filled by inspectors.The questions regarding the Knowledge were scored. Relationship between the knowledge and demographic characteristics was analyzed by SPSS
software through statistical test including paired T-Test, one-way ANOVA and
Chi square test at a significant level of 0.05.

Results: The mean age of 54 Environmental Health Inspectors was equal to 34.2±6.2, and their mean job experience was 10.35±7.8 years. The number of people with a good knowledge was almost equal to the number of people with poor knowledge. The highest percentage of people (33.3%) had moderate
knowledge. The relationship between knowledge with employment status (p= 0.036) and knowledge with academic degree (p=0.05) were significant.

Conclusion: According to the obtained results and the importance of EHO’s role in the promotion of community health, it is necessary that a regular training program is structured to increase the EHO’s awareness in regard to the executive process of legal item13 after their employment and before their starting work.
Keywords
Health Literacy
Environmental Health Officer
legal item13
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Journal of Research in Environmental Health
Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
Summer 2015
Pages 112-118