Measuring positive health of Iranians; Finding from Iran social health survey (ISHS)

Background: Positive health as a “health asset” goes beyond risk factors for diseases and produces longer and healthier life, as well as, better prognosis when illness strikes, against traditional medicine focusing on treating people in negative health to a state that is neutral or free from disease. The aim of present study was to conduct a national survey estimating positive health indicators of Iranians Methods: This survey was performed on September 2014 in all provinces of Iran with 10500 samples. The psychometrics of employed scale was examined in separate study. To estimate positive health indicators, each question included a series of declarative statements and each respondents answer to questions based on a five-point Likert type scale. Results: From a total of 10500 respondents, 10244 fulfilled questionnaire (Response rate= 97.5%). About 49% of participants were male. In a scale from 1 to 5, mean of score of life satisfaction, happiness, quality of life, and self-perceived health were 3.45, 3.28, 3.56 and 3.66, respectively. The highest level of positive health indicators was achieved in provinces of Guilan and West Azerbaijan. Conclusion: The result of the study shows majority of Iranian people assess their perception of health, quality of life, life satisfaction and happiness as ‘moderate’ or ‘good’ (between 66 to 82% of respondents. It would seem that measured positive health indicators in comparison with the rates of past national studies, have been decreased between 3.5 to 4% that should be noticed in social health policy making.