Effect of Empowerment of Rural Islamic Councils on the Implementation of Individual Self-Care Programs

Individual self-care is a kind of self-care that a person is responsible for taking care of himself, his family and others. The role of Islamic councils in advancing health policy is very important. Present research aimed to investigate the effect of empowerment of Islamic councils on the implementation of individual self-care programs. This quasi-experimental study was conducted among the members of Rural Islamic Council of two villages of Johkhah and Behesht-Abad close to Tabas city. The empowerment program was implemented for members of the Council of Jokahah Village as an intervention group and the Behesht-abad village was considered as a control group. Two months after the intervention, the status of individual self-care program in two villages was examined and compared with before intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS17 software and single-sample T-test method. The results showed that after intervention, the number of health ambassadors which had increased up to 31 people in Johkhah however the growth was up to two in Behesht-Abad. Also, in the two months after the intervention, there was no change in Behesht-Abad village, and the registered ambassadors did not perform any activities in the area, but in the village of Jokhah, ambassadors of health had a significant activity. Empowerment of members of Islamic councils causes the participation of people in health system programs and in particular in individual self-care programs. This increase is not just voluntary, it creates a partnership in which we see dynamic and influential activities.