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The life of organisms is threatened because of the discharge of pesticides containing toxic substances in the environment. Both the toxicity amount of the ingredients and exposure level are very important in the risk of health hazards owing to these materials. Groundwater is the major source of the supply of drinking water in area studied. Organophosphate pesticides in the water samples were analysed by means of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC–MS).The mean value of total ADD showed that children were more exposed to drinking water than adults (~1.7 times). For adults, hazard index was (0.63) illustrating that the groundwater was rather safe for portable use by adults. Nonetheless, hazard index for pesticide exposures in children was (1.21), which is higher than the threshold of 1. Also, the mean values of CRingestion for adults and children were 5.2E-05, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unintentional injuries are major cause of death and disability in children. In this regard, mothers play important role in adopting preventive measures to avoid these injuries. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of protection motivation to prevent home injuries among mothers with children under 5 yearold. This study was performed on 204 mothers having children under 5 year-old in health centers. Proportional stratified random sampling was use as sampling method. The inclusion criteria were living in Jiroft city, ability to read and write, having at least one child under 5 year-old and desire to participate in the study. A researcher-made with 41 items questionnaire was used to measure demographics characteristics and protection motivation theory constructs in terms of home injuries. The results showed that there was significant relationship between mean scores of protection motivation and perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, response efficacy, self-efficacy, response costs and fear. The results of linear regression analysis showed that selfefficacy, fear and response costs could predict 20% of variance of motivation to protect from home-related injuries. Considering that self-efficacy, response cost, and fear could predict protection motivation among mothers so use of such constructs in health promotion interventions can improve the safety behaviors of mothers at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malaria is one of the most serious diseases in pregnant women as well as children less than 5 years around the world. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of health education based on the protection motivation theory on malaria preventive behaviors in the households of Ghale Ganj, Kerman, Iran in 2011. Methods: The present quasi-experimental study was conducted on 144 households covered by 8 health centers of Ghale Ganj, Kerman. The study samples were selected through systematic random sampling and the study data were collected using a questionnaire including demographic information, the constructs of the protection motivation theory, and a checklist for assessing the malaria preventive behaviors. After the pre-test, the intervention group underwent an educational intervention and after two months, the post-test was performed through the same questionnaire. Then, the data were entered into the SPSS statistical software (v. 18) and analyzed using Chi-square and Wilcoxon non-parametric tests. Besides, P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Before the intervention, no significant difference was found between the two study groups regarding perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, response costs, self-efficacy, response efficacy, and malaria preventive behaviors. After the intervention, however, a significant increase was observed in the intervention group's mean scores of all the constructs of the protection motivation theory as well as malaria preventive behaviors (P < 0.01). Conclusions: According to the findings of the study, educational intervention based on the protection motivation theory is highly effective in promoting malaria preventive behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]