Establishing the tasks of family health masters: a needs assessment study using Delphi technique

Professional duties are regarded as a base for developing the curriculum in a new course. The purpose of this study is to determine the professional duties of postgraduates of family health major according to the viewpoints of stakeholders. In this cross sectional study, five type one universities (high quality universities) and four type two and three universities were randomly selected using Delphi technique. The participants were directors of health departments, the vice chancellor of public health authorities, the assistance and managers of health and treatment networks, the employees of family health units, and also public health undergraduate students. We developed a questionnaire to gather data. The questionnaire consisted of an open ended and some demographic questions. Data was analyzed using the content analysis technique. In this case duties were defined. Then they were prioritized and finalized in a focus group. In the first step of Delphi 190 duties were extracted. Then we classified them, based on priority in the second Delphi, into 102 duties. Finally 16 items were grouped under the domain of providing services to families, 35 items were in the domain of planning, 50 items were in the domain of supervision, 5 items were in the domain of research, 13 items were in the domain of management, and 28 items in the domain of education. In order to plan for the education of required family health experts there is a need to define the duties of family health postgraduates. The results of this study can be used in the planning of the curriculum of this major.