title: Reporting of health promotion research: addressing the quality gaps in iran.
abstract: Quality of health behavior research determines usefulness of the findings for application. The authors individually scrutinized quality of a representative sample of abstracts (n=315) submitted to the 1st International and 4th National Congress on Health Education and Promotion, held in Tabriz, Iran on 16-19 May, 2011. Among the assessed abstracts, introduction section had the standard format in 18.1% (CI: 14.2-22.7%), sampling method and sample size were concurrently explained in 56.3% (CI: 50.3-62.1%), and the data in 40.6% (CI: 35.4-46.1%) were insufficient to support the conclusion section. The observed heterogeneity in the quality of Iranian research may reflect gaps in research methodology education. Revision in the current research performance is recommended to ensure a more stringent national research output.
authors.affiliation: The Medical Education Research Centre, R & D Campus; Department of Health Education and Promotion, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolreza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shaghaghi
authors.affiliation: The Medical Education Research Centre, R & D Campus; Department of Health Education and Promotion, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matlabi
keywords: Behavioral science; Health promotion; Iran; Research performance