Lessons learnt from the model of instructional system for training community health workers in rural health houses of Iran

Abstract

Background: Many experts believe that the “health houses” of Iran have had major effects in increasing health status of Iranian rural community. One of the factors, which was critical to this success is the employment of young women and men from rural communities who serve as multipurpose health workers. They participate in a two-year task-oriented training course. Objectives: The purpose of this article was to describe the model of training behvarzes as the community health workers who deliver health services to the health houses of Iran. This description included the specific method of recruiting these CHWs, strategies and methods of their training which is different from general academic education. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study design was utilized for this analysis in six areas. These areas have been selected according to the expert opinions and experiences of the Center for Health Networks Management. Results: The results showed the specific method of student selection and clear objectives and standards of training related to the health needs of the community. Recruitment of native human resources, the relationship between training and performance are the characteristics, which have been made this system more efficient and responsive to the health system needs. Conclusions: Development of the job and task analysis to ensure providing the right training needs, applying more evidences through different studies for reforms, more decentralized equipped system with decision-making tools have been proposed for development.