Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice toward Protection of Cooling Systems (Refrigerator and Freezer) and Control of Ozone - Depleting Gases Emission into the Environment among Health Volunteers in Yazd

  Chlorofluorocarbons are one of the most important ozone-depleting substances used as coolant gases in refrigerators and freezers in developing countries such as Iran. The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice toward the protection of cooling systems and control of ozone-depleting gases emission into the environment among health volunteers in Yazd city, Iran. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted on 110 health volunteers in Yazd in 2014. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire containing four parts of demographic data, knowledge, attitude, and practice of health volunteers. The data were analyzed by descriptive tests, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and practice of health volunteers were 8.12 ± 4.02 (range 0-23), 66.82 ± 7.55 (range 19-95), and 8.21 ± 1.47 (range 0-12). A positive and significant correlation was also observed between the three variables of knowledge, attitude, and practice of volunteers regarding the protection of cooling systems and controlling the emission of ozone-depleting gases into the environment (p <0.05). The knowledge of health volunteers, as an effective stratum in the knowledge, attitude, and practice of the community, about depletion of the ozone layer, as one of the most important environmental issues, was not at an appropriate level. Therefore, educating and promoting the knowledge level of health volunteers is of great importance as the most basic part of making health behaviors.