Nomad Women's Health and Hygiene Information Needs: Motivations, Resources, and Challenges

Due to the importance of women in nomad communities and their roles in family health and hygiene, it is vital to study their familiarity with and resources in this field. The aim of this study was to identify the information needs of nomad women of Kohgiluyeh, Iran, in the field of health and hygiene and how they use resources in this field.
This applied research was conducted through survey method and using a researcher-made questionnaire and oral interviews with 235 nomad women.
The results showed that more than 60% of the studied individuals had elementary education and their most important motivation for accessing information was “helping their family to create a healthier life”. Respondents had high inclination toward accessing essential health information and about 56% of them reported their motivation to be very high. Moreover, about 34.9% of participants stated that the role of health centers in increasing their health information was low or very low. The findings also showed that about 59% of nomad women used more traditional sources of information (personal experience and the experience of others).
Due to lack of access to necessary information resources among nomad women and the important role of women in nomad communities as a social and economic pillar of the family, it is vital that relevant authorities provide the necessary facilities to meet the information needs of these women.