Department of Public Health, Shoushtar Faculty of Medical Sciences, Shoushtar, Iran.
Shoushtar Faculty of Medical Sciences, Shoushtar, Iran.
BMC Prim Care. 2022 Dec 7;23(1):318. doi: 10.1186/s12875-022-01933-2.
Despite its special importance among different age groups, the middle-aged male group has often been neglected in the Iranian health system. The aim of this study was to examine, from the perspective of primary health care providers, the challenges of middle-aged men in utilizing health services.
This is a qualitative research that was conducted using semi-structured interviews in 2020 in Shoushtar Faculty of Medical Sciences, Iran. The research population included 60 managers and staff of the health sector. To collect the data, a group discussion method was used based on purposive sampling method. Data analysis was done manually using the conventional content analysis method with data reduction. Lincoln & Guba's four criteria of credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability were used to assess the trustworthiness of the results.
The challenges of middle-aged men to receive modern health services were identified in 35 codes, 9 categories and three main themes. These themes included Context, Content, and Process. The Context theme comprised the following three categories: personal, economic and sociocultural, and geographic factors. The Content theme contained two categories of staff and facilities. Finally, the Process theme included four categories of service quality, program management, system of information registration and follow-up, and health education and publicizing.
Promoting middle-aged men's benefits from modern health services calls for overcoming three categories of challenges related to: context, content, and process. Time and place restrictions on access to services should be alleviated by empowering health care workers, improving their working conditions, and strengthening the facilities of comprehensive health service centers. In addition, with proper management of the family physician program and service provision at different levels, the coverage of services for middle-aged men can also be extended.
尽管中年男性在不同年龄群体中具有特殊重要性，但伊朗卫生系统往往忽视了这一群体。本研究旨在从初级保健提供者的角度探讨中年男性在利用卫生服务方面所面临的挑战。
这是一项定性研究，于 2020 年在伊朗舒什塔尔医科大学采用半结构式访谈进行。研究人群包括 60 名卫生部门的管理人员和工作人员。为了收集数据，采用了基于目的抽样法的小组讨论方法。使用传统的内容分析法，通过数据缩减进行手动数据分析。采用林肯和古巴的四项可信度标准，即可信度、可靠性、可确认性和可转移性，来评估结果的可信度。
确定了中年男性在获得现代卫生服务方面所面临的挑战，这些挑战体现在 35 个代码、9 个类别和 3 个主题中。这些主题包括背景、内容和过程。背景主题包括个人、经济和社会文化以及地理因素三个类别。内容主题包括工作人员和设施两个类别。最后，过程主题包括服务质量、项目管理、信息登记和随访系统以及健康教育和宣传四个类别。
促进中年男性从现代卫生服务中受益需要克服与背景、内容和过程相关的三个类别的挑战。应通过增强卫生工作者的能力、改善其工作条件和加强综合卫生服务中心的设施来缓解服务获取方面的时间和地点限制。此外，通过适当管理家庭医生计划和在不同层次提供服务，可以扩大对中年男性的服务覆盖范围。
