level of knowledge, attitude and practice of clients of rural health centers in relation to some risk factors for cardiovascular disease

In both developed and developing countries, in urban and rural areas, communities are experiencing an epidemic of non-communicable diseases. Empowering people to deal effectively with this epidemic and its risk factors is essential. Therefore, in order to determine the educational needs, this study examined the level of attitude, knowledge, and practice of clients in rural health centers in relation to some risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

A cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 245 clients, aged 18 to 60, in rural health centers of South Khorasan province in 2017. Data were collected over a period of four weeks and analyzed with descriptive and analytical statistical methods (Pearson correlation coefficient and t-test), at the significance level of 0.05, using SPSS software version18.

The mean age of the subjects was 38.5 years. The mean score of knowledge and practice of individuals in relation to cardiovascular risk factors was favorable, but the mean score of attitude was low. The results of Pearson correlation test showed that there was a significant relationship between the mean score of knowledge, attitude, and practice of individuals. The strongest relationship was between knowledge and attitude(r=0/46). According to the independent t-test, there was no significant relationship between the history of hypertension and knowledge (p = 0.7), attitude (p = 0.5) and performance (p = 0.6).

Although, for the success of peoplechr('39')s empowerment policy, it is necessary to pay attention to all three dimensions of attitude, awareness, and performance, the findings of this study showed a low level of attitude. Due to the relationship between attitude and lifestyle choices and exposure to risk factors of cardiovascular disease, it is recommended that we adopt an appropriate educational policy to improve the attitude of individuals.