82: INVESTIGATION OF METHODS OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION BY TONKABON RURAL WOMEN AND ITS IMPACT ON THEIR HEALTH

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The current study is aimed at investigating the access of Tonekabon City's rural women to information and its impact on their health. METHODS: The methodology used in this research is survey- analytical. The study population contains 42,283 rural women, residing in Tonekabon City in Mazandaran Province. Using the systematic random sampling method and the sampling formula of Kockran, the community sample numbered 297. The research tool was a questionnaire, made by the researcher. To analyze the data, the descriptive statistics (frequency table) and the interpretive statistics) mann whithney U and spearman Test) was applied. RESULTS: The findings of this research indicated that watching TV was the main source of accessing the necessary health and medical information by rural women, while referring to a general practitioner came second in this regard. The main kind of medical information required by these women is related to gynecological and skin diseases. The role of internet resources and web pages in accessing medical and health information is also transparent. At the same time, a paucity of sufficient libraries and training classes along with inadequate information provided to women by health clinics in the rural areas have been among the main obstacles in the way of receiving health and medical information. Having put the hypothesis to test, it was shown that there was no meaningful difference between healthy people and patients in making use of the information recourses, with both groups favoring the resources on an equal basis. Testing the second hypothesis indicated a direct link between the education level and application of information resources. CONCLUSION: The survey findings show that not only ill people seek to gain medical and health information, but healthy people are also after receiving such necessary information. This is while those with a higher level of education pursue such information on a more frequent basis.