title: Affecting Factors on the Performance of Community Health Workers in Iran's Rural Areas: A Review Article.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aimed to use a mixed-method approach to investigate affecting factors on the performance of Community Health Workers (CHW) in Iran's villages.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted during 2014-2015 with a mixed method in three phases of literature review, Delphi technique and developing a rich picture. Overall, in order to finalize the affecting factors and their relationships between qualitative content analysis, Delphi technique, AHP technique and Focus Group Discussion were used, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Affecting factors on CHW performance were divided into four main categories, 10 sub-themes and 35 contents. Increase in the level of people's awareness, disease patterns, demographic structure and lifestyle were placed in four priorities respectively on the basis of importance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the most extent CHW cannot face current needs of rural communities. It challenges equitable access to healthcare services and also conflicts with the primary philosophy of CHW presence in rural areas. CHW can be used in two forms; either as an assistant to rural family physicians or with the same previous functions.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Human Resources Research & Studies, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamhossein
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salehi Zalani
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahboubeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bayat
authors.affiliation: Health Services Management of Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Azad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shokri
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Resources Research & Studies, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: S Elmira
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Mirbahaeddin
authors.affiliation: Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rasi
authors.affiliation: Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alirezaei
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Manafi
keywords: Affecting factors; CHW; Iran; Performance; Rural areas