Abstract
Background and Objectives: The first step in educational planning is identifying and prioritizing the educational needs. The initial point is needs assessment. Therefore, the aim of this study was needs assessment and determining priorities in health education of youth covered by the Health Departments of Iran University of Medical Sciences.
Materials and Methods: The research method was descriptive and 2842 youth aged 18 to 29 years were enrolled from areas under coverage of Iran Medical University. Two-stage sampling was used: First cluster sampling from health centers and then random sampling of young people. The sampling tool was a questionnaire prepared by the Ministry of Health and descriptive statistics were used.
Results: The most important need for health education in all centers is teaching life skills (4.47 ± 3.34). The period of examination needs to be established or reevaluated in primary health care services (1.38 ± 0.57). The most required health consult is consulting on skills before marriage (2.82 ± 1.89). In most cases, the preferred educational training is listed through family.
Conclusions: Solving the problems of young people in society is the duty of every health care system. To do this, it is needed to identify problems according to available resources and priorities. For each priority, educational programs should be specified. In this process, the consensus of all stakeholders on the priority list of programs is documented.