Effect of the BASNEF-based Educational Intervention on the Prevention of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Disease in the Volunteer HealthWorkers and Families Covered by Them: A Quasi-Experimental Prospective Study

Oneperson, every second, gets the Cutaneous Leishmaniasis disease. It is endemic in 88 countries, and currently, 10 million people suffer from the disease worldwide. It is observed in the cities of 15 provinces in Iran. The rural Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Iran occurs in Isfahan, Sarakhs, Esfarayen, Jajarm, Marvdasht Fars, etc. (1). Considering the importance of health education in controlling the vector of the disease, it is possible to use different educational models, such as BASNEF, for effective health education. The BASNEF model has been formed from the constructs of behavioral beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms, and enabling factors abbreviated as the BASNEF (2). The efficacy of this model has been proven to change the behavior of educators in volunteer health workers (VHWs) (3) as well as the behavior of the families covered by them regarding the prevention of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (4, 5). Therefore, due to the high prevalence of the disease in Jajarm (1), undesirable levels of adoption of preventive behaviors in families living in endemic areas (4), the behavior of VHWs to inform people about this disease (3), the limited resources to educate all people in a region, andconsidering the fact that by trainingVHWs all people in a region can be informed (1), the present study was conducted to determine the effect of educational intervention based on the BASNEF model in the prevention of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis diseaseamong VHWs and families covered by them.