الفهرس 
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Abstract
Studies have shown that HCV-infected individuals have limited knowledge of HCV disease and improvement in HCV knowledge can influence a patient’s decision to explore and initiate HCV therapy
The present study aimed to evaluate the level of HCV education and the effectiveness of HCV educational program in a rural community in Tanta region, center of Delta, Egypt.
To achieve this target, the study recruited 160 attendants of the local healthcare unit. They were submitted to basic HCV knowledge questionnaire. Then, they had an educational 4 sessions HCV program. After the program, patients’ information were evaluated using the same questionnaire.
In the present study, the included subjects had a mean age of 45.6 ± 13.5 years. They included 76 males (47.5 %) and 84 females (52.5 %).
Regarding their educational level, illiterates came in the 1st rank (33.8 %) followed by those who can read and write (29.4 %), those with primary education (9.4 %), preparatory education (10.6 %), secondary education (8.7 %) and university education (8.1 %).
In respect to occupations, house wives are 1st rank occupation of the studied subjects. Other occupation include manual (36.3 %) and professional (13.8 %) occupations while the remainder 8.1 % are unemployed.
Among the studied subjects, 24 (15.0 %) had HCV infection while 14 (8.8 %) had HCV infection in their families.
In the present study, 36.9 % of participants knew about HCV. Regarding other aspects of knowledge including the etiology of HCV, its infectivity, routes of transmission, complications and treatment, the studied sample showed generally moderate to poor knowledge.
In the present study, the interventional education program resulted in significant improvement of all knowledge parameters in the study participants.