Birth spacing among married primary health workers ( behvarzes) in Kerman province in ۱۹۹۲

Primary health workers( behvarzes) have the responsibility of birth control education in rural areas. To evaluate the practice of behvarzes in their own birth spacing, a questionnaire was prepared by the investigators and it was completed by married behvarzes. The results were as follows: of ۴۳۷ behvarzes  ۵۰.۸℅ were females and ۸۴(۱۹.۲℅) were couples. Mean age of behvarzes was ۲۹.۴ and the mean duration of their employment was ۷ years. The mean age of marriage was ۲۰.۲℅ among females and ۱۸.۶℅ years among the wives of the male behvarzes. The mean age of first pregnancy was ۲۱.۴ and ۱۹.۳ years respectively, but the mean number of their children was ۲ . The mean of birth spacing among behvarzes was ۳۲ months. The mean interval between the last two pregnancies was ۳۶.۶ months in female behvarzes, ۳۴.۸ among the wives of males, and ۲۶.۹ in the rural women. The mediam of birth spacing of last two deliveries were ۳۵.۹, ۳۲.۸ and ۲۱.۷ respectively. Overall , parameters related to behvarzes, practice in fertility related behaviours, compared with rural women, though not completely acceptable , seem by and large satisfactory.