سنجش شاخص‌های مؤثر در کیفیت سلامت و ایمنی مسکن در سکونتگاه‌های غیررسمی تبریز

ABSTRACT
Housing quality is fundamentally linked to health and sustainability goals, housing safety is a pervasive challenge in cities and urban areas of low-income countries, especially in informal settlements where a large number of urban dwellers live. Despite this ongoing challenge and its impact on health and well-being, there is a need to measure the safety and health of housing in these areas. Therefore, this research measures the indicators of the quality of health and safety of housing in the informal settlements of Tabriz. For this, a quantitative method was used along with a researcher-made questionnaire. The target community in this research consisted of urban planners and architects, engineers, inspectors and developers in the city. For data analysis, structural equations were used with the exploratory confirmatory factor method along with the partial least squares method, which is less sensitive to the sample size and is the best method to show the relationships between latent and manifest variables. For this, Spss and SmartPls software were used. In this study, various factors affecting the safety and health performance of low-cost housing in informal settlements of Tabriz city were investigated. The results indicate that architecture, building services, external environment, management approaches and maintenance management have a significant effect on health and safety performance. Building service factors (β = 0.89) were the main causes of safety and health performance. It is important to evaluate the conditions of construction services to protect the safety, health and well-being of people and to protect the environment.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
According to Article 31 of the Law of the Islamic Republic, safe housing is the right of every Iranian. Improving the quality of housing and related services increases social stability, environmental conditions and overall quality of life, and at the same time motivates community participation. In the qualitative dimension, there are issues and phenomena related to the poor condition of housing and lack of housing. Epidemiological findings show a strong relationship between housing conditions and health. Today, it has been proven that housing affects the health of residents directly and indirectly, and healthy housing can reduce the risk of various diseases and physical injuries. And it may positively or negatively affect the quality of life and family and individual well-being. According to the World Bank, improving housing can save lives, prevent disease, increase quality of life, reduce poverty, and contribute to development and health goals for sustainable cities. According to reports, more than 500,000 people live in informal settlements with poor housing conditions in Tabriz metropolis. Improper housing in these settlements in Tabriz city threatens human health and safety in many physical, biological and social dimensions. In fact, informal settlements not only threaten health, but also spread diseases and reduce human life expectancy. In this regard, in order to improve the quality of construction, future challenges in environmental practice and new construction methods should be identified to promote the highest quality standards, safety and health and environmental practices. According to the main purpose of the research and the stated contents, the main question of the research is raised as follows: What are the health and safety quality indicators of housing in the informal settlements of Tabriz?
 
Methodology
The current research was descriptive-analytical and applied in terms of purpose. The target community in this research is defined as city planners and architects, engineers, inspectors and developers in the city. As a rule of thumb, a sample size of at least 200 is a good basis for performing a maximum likelihood estimation, which is one of the most common structural equation modeling (SEM) estimates. Non-probability cluster sampling was used in this research. 300 self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from the respondents. A multiple choice data collection method was used whereby some questionnaires were mailed to respondents, some via email and some were delivered in person. The process of distributing and collecting questionnaires was done in two months. A total of 252 questionnaires were received and used for this analysis. In the following, in order to identify the effect of the effective factors on the health and safety of houses in the informal settlements of Tabriz city, exploratory factor analysis was used to group these factors. Criterion validation and model testing were performed using a structural equation modeling tool called SmartPLS, which uses a component-based approach to estimation. SmartPLS included a two-step approach to data analysis. First, the measurement model was used to evaluate and develop the reliability and validity of the research tool. In the second step, after adjusting the items and accepting the measurement model, the structural model was evaluated to evaluate the hypothetical relationships between the structures in the conceptual model. This two-step process helped to ensure that the scale items were statistically consistent and that the constructs measured what they were intended to measure, prior to any attempt to draw conclusions regarding the construct model. Table 2 shows the indicators and sub-indices investigated in the research.
 
Results and discussion
In this study, various factors affecting the safety and health performance of low-cost housing in informal settlements of Tabriz city were investigated. The results indicate that architecture, building services, external environment, management approaches and maintenance management have a significant effect on health and safety performance. Building service factors (β = 0.89) were the main causes of safety and health performance. It is important to evaluate the conditions of construction services to protect the safety, health and well-being of people and to protect the environment.
 
Conclusion
Finally, there is a need for more disaggregated cross-sectional data related to housing health and safety. These data will be important to inform the development and prioritization of promotion strategies for health, and to support further research that seeks to measure and evaluate the impact of informal settlement promotion and interventions on local and broader health trends. It is important to note that these results should be interpreted in light of the limitations of this study. To improve the statistical power of these results, a larger sample size can be used in future studies. Future studies can explore and identify specific relationships between safety and health performance and understand personal responsibilities among construction workers to better understand the issue of sustainable construction. Future research should also include a systems approach to explore and understand interactions between city system components and key health outcomes, especially in rapidly urbanizing low- and middle-income countries.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none.
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
 We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.