Effect of the occupational health training on knowledge level of hairdressers ‎toward HIV and HBV transmission and prevention in Rasht

Introduction: Information on knowledge related to HIV/AIDS and HBV is essential in &lrm;identifying populations most at risk for infection and in better understanding the dynamics of &lrm;the epidemic. &lrm; &nbsp;Objective: Determination of knowledge about HIV and HBV infection in trained and &lrm;untrained hairdressers in Rasht.&lrm; &nbsp;Methods: In a cross- sectional study in spring of &lrm;&rlm;2006&rlm;&lrm;, &lrm;&rlm;456&rlm;&lrm; hairdressers completed a self- &lrm;administered questionnaire about routes of transmission and prevention of HIV and HBV &lrm;infection. The questions were designed according to the standard questionnaire of WHO. It &lrm;contained three parts, demographic, knowledge and source of knowledge. Level of &lrm;knowledge was classified to weak, moderate and good according to the knowledge scores. &lrm;Data analysis was done by SPSS version &lrm;&rlm;11.5&rlm;&lrm;. We used chi-square test for statistical &lrm;analysis. P-value<&lrm;&rlm;0.05&rlm;&lrm; was considered significant. &lrm; Results: About &lrm;&rlm;59%&rlm;&lrm; of hairdressers were trained about occupational health. More than&rlm; 90%&rlm;&lrm; &lrm;of subjects believed that AIDS and Hepatitis-B are an important public health problem in Iran. &lrm;Knowledge level of most of subjects (&lrm;&rlm;76%&rlm;&lrm;) was in moderate level. In trained group level of &lrm;appropriate knowledge toward HBV and HIV was &lrm;&rlm;17.3%&rlm;&lrm; and &lrm;&rlm;29%&rlm;&lrm; and in untrained women &lrm;&rlm;3.6%&rlm;&lrm; and &lrm;&rlm;9.4%&rlm;&lrm; respectively (P<&lrm;&rlm;0.001&rlm;&lrm;). The most important source of knowledge in &lrm;trained hairdressers was health training classes and in second group was TV. &lrm; Conclusion: Knowledge level of trained subjects was higher than others but not adequate. &lrm;