Effectiveness of an Education Program on Primary School Health Coordinators’ Knowledge about Prevention of Infectious Diseases
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Objective: Infectious diseases result from transmitting microorganisms from a contaminated source to a healthy person, causing infection. Overcrowding in schools accelerates the spread of these diseases. Students gather in restricted areas, which facilitates the transmission of infection among them. Lack of awareness of proper personal hygiene methods also increases the likelihood of infection spreading. The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the educational program on health coordinators ' knowledge about preventing infectious diseases.
Methods and Materials: An experimental study design has been applied using the pre-test and post-test 1 and 2 methodology. The study was conducted at the Educational Supervision Hall within the General Directorate of Education in Najaf City during the period of 2024-2025; a stratified random sample of (204) health coordinators from primary schools in the city of Najaf was assigned to experimental (n= 102) and control (n= 102) groups.
Findings: The average age is 40 years, and Females represent a higher proportion for the two groups. Most coordinators are married. The study findings showed significant differences in overall main domains relating to health coordinators ' Knowledge about preventing infectious diseases between pre- and post-tests 1 and 2 in the study group.
Conclusion: Insufficient knowledge among Health Coordinators on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases before implementing the educational program in the pre-test. The excellent effect of the academic program is manifested in the knowledge of Health Coordinators in the study group, as evidenced by the change in mean scores through post-test 1 and post-test 2. The research confirms that health coordinators' knowledge about infectious diseases is crucial, and most health coordinators in Al-Najaf City require training on prevalent infectious diseases and prevention methods.
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