Evaluating the Status of People's Social Participation in Health Programs

Abstract

Background and Objective: The extent of social participation in health programs as a factor in the success of health programs in developing countries has received less attention. Regarding the importance of health among rural community, this study intends to examine the status of social participation in physical, mental health, social and environmental health in rural areas of Mahabad city and its relation with participation indicators in health programs. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 382 people were selected by multi-stage random sampling from Mahabad health houses. Physical, mental health, social and environmental health, and indicators of social participation have been used in health programs. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and independent t-test by SPSS-25 software. Results: The results showed 48.8 percent (147) of the participants were male. The economic situation of 48.2% of households was low, and 5.8% was high. Based on th results the mean of social participation score in health was 30.15 out of 100 and 62.6% of participants had low participation, 31.1% had moderate participation and 6.3% had high participation. The results also showed that among all demographic characteristics, only a significant statistical relationship was found between education and social participation in health, and also between social participation in health with three indicators "Empowered households covered by health volunteers based on national health priorities", "donors recruitment" and " Attracting charitable donations" (P-value ˂0.05), but no significant relationship was found between other indicators and social participation score. Conclusion: Considering the low level of social participation in health in Mahabad city, and without the participation of people, the goals of health programs will not achieveable, so planning to improve the current situation by taking into account social participation indicators in Health seems to be a priorety.