Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:10:13.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Preparedness of Primary Health Care Network in terms of Emergency Risk Communication: A Study in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2021

Zeinab Bagheri ,
Tahereh Dehdari  and
Masoud Lotfizadeh
Zeinab Bagheri
Affiliation:
Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Tahereh Dehdari*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Masoud Lotfizadeh
Affiliation:
Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
*
Corresponding author: Tahereh Dehdari, Emails: dehdari.t@iums.ac.ir, dehdarit@yahoo.com.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective:

Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) is known as 1 of the important components of an effective response to public health emergencies. In this study, we aimed to investigate the preparedness of the Primary Health Care Network (PHCN) of Iran in terms of the ERC.

Methods:

This study was conducted in 136 Primary Health Care Facilities (PHCFs) affilated to Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran. Data in terms of ERC were collected using a checklist developed by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Results:

The findings of the study revealed that 65.9% of the PHCFs had low preparedness in terms of the ERC, 33.3% had a moderate level and 0.8% had high preparedness in this regard. There was a significant difference between the level of ERC and the history of crisis in the past year, PHCF type, and the education level of the responsible employees in the crisis unit in the PHCF.

Conclusions:

The results showed that the PHCFs studied need to increase their capacity and capability in the field of ERC. Further efforts to provide ERC components may increase the preparedness of PHCN in Iran in terms of the ERC.

Keywords

emergency risk communicationIranpublic health emergencyprimary health care
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , August 2022 , pp. 1466 - 1475
Copyright
© Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Parvanta, C, Nelson, DE, Parvanta, SA, Harner, RN. Essentials of public health communication. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers; 2011.Google Scholar
Center of Disease Control and Prevention. Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Training. Introduction to CERC; 2018. https://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/ppt/CERC_Introduction.pdf. Accessed March 1, 2020.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (WHO). Emergency risk communication: International health Agreements (Module B1); 2020. https://www.who.int/risk-communication/training/module-b/en/. Accessed March 1, 2020.Google Scholar
Suthar, AB, Allen, LG, Cifuentes, S, Dye, C, Nagata, JM. Lessons learnt from implementation of the International Health Regulations: A systematic review. Bull World Health Organ. 2018;96(2):110-121E.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salvi, C, Frost, M, Couillard, C, Enderlein, U, Nitzan, D. Emergency risk communication–early lessons learned during the pilot phase of a five-step capacity-building package. Public Health Panorama. 2018;4(01):51-57.Google Scholar
Cope, JR, Frost, M, Richun, L, Xie, R. Assessing knowledge and application of emergency risk communication principles among public health workers in China. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2014;8(3):199-205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qiu, W, Chu, C, Hou, X, et al. A Comparison of China’s Risk Communication in Response to SARS and H7N9 Using Principles Drawn From International Practice. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2018;12(5):587-598.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tang, L, Zhang, Y, Tian, K, Xing, D, Sun, J, Qiu, J. Knowledge, perception, and capacity regarding emergency risk communication: A cross-sectional survey of 429 county health emergency response staff in Chongqing, China. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2016;10(4):536-537.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickmann, P, Biedenkopf, N, Keeping, S, Eickmann, M, Becker, S. Risk communication and crisis communication in infectious disease outbreaks in Germany: What is being done, and what needs to be done. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2014;8(3):206-211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughan, E, Tinker, T. Effective health risk communication about pandemic influenza for vulnerable populations. Am J Public Health. 2009;99(Suppl 2):S324-S332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Novak, JM, Day, AM, Sopory, P, et al. Engaging communities in emergency risk and crisis communication: Mixed-method systematic review and evidence synthesis. JICRCR. 2019;2(1):61-96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Infanti, J, Sixsmith, J, Barry, MM, Núñez-Córdoba, J, Oroviogoicoechea - Ortega, C, Guillén-Grima, F. A literature review on effective risk communication for the prevention and control of communicable diseases in Europe. Stockholm: ECDC; 2013.Google Scholar
Seeger, MW, Pechta, LE, Price, SM, et al. A Conceptual Model for Evaluating Emergency Risk Communication in Public Health. Health Secur. 2018;16(3):193-203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jha, A, Lin, L, Short, SM, et al. Integrating emergency risk communication (ERC) into the public health system response: Systematic review of literature to aid formulation of the 2017 WHO Guideline for ERC policy and practice. PLOS One. 2018;13(10):e0205555.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qiu, W, Chu, C, Hou, X, et al. A Comparison of China’s Risk Communication in Response to SARS and H7N9 Using Principles Drawn From International Practice. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2018;12(5):587-598.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purohit, N, Mehta, S. Risk communication initiatives amid COVID-19 in India: Analyzing message effectiveness of videos on national television. J Health Manag. 2020;22(2): 262-280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X, Lin, L, Xuan, Z, Xu, J, Wan, Y, Zhou, X. Risk communication on behavioral responses during COVID-19 among general population in China: A rapid national study. J Infect. 2020;81(6):911-922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verulava, T. Health care system in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Insurance, Health Policy & Management; 2006. http://eprints.iliauni.edu.ge/1676/1/Health_Care_System_in_the_Islamic_Republic_of_Iran.pdf. Accessed December 3, 2020.Google Scholar
Yazdi-Feyzabadi, V, Emami, M, Mehrolhassani, MH. Health information system in primary health care: The challenges and barriers from local providers’ perspective of an area in Iran. Int J Prev Med. 2015;6:57.Google ScholarPubMed
Mosadeghrad, AM, Esfahani, P, Afshari, M. Strategies to improve hospital efficiency in Iran: A scoping review. Payesh: Journal of the Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research. 2019;18(1):7-21. [in Persian]Google Scholar
Lawshe, CH. A quantitative approach to content validity. Pers Psychol. 1975;28(4):563-575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polit, DF, Beck, CT. Nursing research: Principles and methods. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2004.Google Scholar
Bujang, MA, Baharum, N. Guidelines of the minimum sample size requirements for Kappa agreement test. Epidemiol Biostat Public Health. 2017;14(2): e12267-1- e12267-10.Google Scholar
McHugh, ML. Interrater reliability: The kappa statistic. Biochem Med (Zagreb). 2012;22(3):276-282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malik, MR, Haq, ZU, Saeed, Q, Riley, R, Khan, WM. Distressed setting and profound challenges: Pandemic influenza preparedness plans in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. J Infect Public Health. 2018;11(3):352-356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sambala, EZ, Kanyenda, T, Iwu, CJ, Iwu, CD, Jaca, A, Wiysonge, CS. Pandemic influenza preparedness in the WHO African region: are we ready yet? BMC Infect Dis. 2018;18(1):567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Al-Hunaishi, W, Hoe, VC, Chinna, K. Factors associated with healthcare workers willingness to participate in disasters: A cross-sectional study in Sana’a, Yemen. BMJ Open. 2019;9(10):e030547.Google ScholarPubMed
Andrulis, DP, Siddiqui, NJ, Gantner, JL. Preparing racially and ethnically diverse communities for public health emergencies [published correction appears in Health Aff (Millwood). 2007 Nov-Dec;26(6):1794]. Health Aff (Millwood). 2007;26(5):1269-1279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, TW, Fellows, KL. Risk communication failure: A case study of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. Southern Communication J. 2008;73(3):211-228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchins, SS, Truman, BI, Merlin, TL, Redd, SC. Protecting vulnerable populations from pandemic influenza in the United States: A strategic imperative. Am J Public Health. 2009;99:243-248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Toppenberg-Pejcic, D, Noyes, J, Allen, T, Alexander, N, Vanderford, M, Gamhewage, G. Emergency risk communication: Lessons learned from a rapid review of recent gray literature on ebola, zika, and yellow fever. Health Commun. 2019;34(4):437-455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tam, G, Huang, Z, Chan, EYY. Household preparedness and preferred communication channels in public health emergencies: A cross-sectional survey of residents in an asian developed urban city. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(8):1598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
University of Chicago National Research Center, The March of Dimes. The zika virus: Gaps in Americans’ knowledge and support for government action; 2016 http://www.norc.org/PDFs/MarchOfDimes/Report_March_of_Dimes_NORC_Zika_Poll_090616.pdf. Accessed March 1, 2020.Google Scholar
Edworthy, J, Hellier, E, Newbold, L, Titchener, K. Passing crisis and emergency risk communications: The effects of communication channel, information type, and repetition. Appl Ergon. 2015;48:252-262.Google ScholarPubMed
Radović, V, Curčić, L. The opportunities of crises and emergency risk communication in activities of Serbian public health workforce in emergencies. Iran J Public Health. 2012;41(10):15-23.Google ScholarPubMed