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As demonstrated in the literature, teachers’ knowledge sharing, self-efficacy and creativity display certain levels of cause-and-effect and correlational connections from different perspectives. Nonetheless, few studies, if any, have been reported on the interplay of these three concepts in the context of the language classroom. As such, this study aims to test a structural model of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ knowledge sharing, self-efficacy and creativity and specifically to examine the hypothesis that creativity mediates the relationship between EFL teachers’ knowledge sharing and self-efficacy.

The participants were 384 EFL teachers from different language institutes across Iran. The EFL teachers were selected based on random stratified sampling method. To verify the research hypotheses, a quantitative correlational design was used in the present study. The quantitative data was collected using three questionnaires, and then descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Therefore, we used the EFL teachers’ creativity questionnaire developed by Khany and Boghayeri (2014), knowledge sharing behavior scale by Ramayah et al. (2014) and teachers’ self-efficacy questionnaire by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001). To analyze the data, Pearson correlation and multiple regression were run.

The findings revealed the hypothesized model of relationships among the study variables. The results also confirmed the mediator role of creativity. The implications of the findings in relation to creativity, knowledge sharing and self-efficacy are discussed.

The bulk of research on teacher self-efficacy has concentrated fairly adequately on its relationship with factors such as teachers’ reflective practice, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, personality and student achievement. What seems to be rather missing in this line of research has to do with the exploration of the possible links among knowledge sharing, self-efficacy and creativity as interacting variables, especially in the context of Iran where teachers’ knowledge sharing is lower than expected. More importantly, no previous investigation has tapped into the mediating effect of creativity on the connection between English teachers’ knowledge sharing and self-efficacy.

It can be said that the most important function of the health system is to provide health-care services. This directly affects society’s health and justice. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study that has meta-analyzed the percentage of health services utilization among Iranians to answer this question “How much is the percentage of health-care services utilization in Iran?”

This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted in 2020. The literature review was done by searching the databases of Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, SID, Magiran and Irandoc from January 2010 to August 2020. Pooled utilization percentage (UP) was estimated by STATA 15 through random-effects meta-analysis with 95% confidence interval. The I² statistic was used to investigate the possibility of heterogeneity of articles (I² ≥ 50% indicate heterogeneity). A forest plot was applied to report the results. A funnel plot exploited due to publication bias assessment.

Approximately 22% of the reviewed articles have been done at the national level of Iran. Most studies have examined the utilization of outpatient and inpatient services. Based on the random effects method, the pooled value of UP was obtained at 47.82%, (95% CI: 39.33–56.31). Also, the pooled percentage of utilization was statistically significant (Test of UP = 0, Z = 456.44, p = 0.000).

Policymakers can improve the level of utilization from health services by expanding universal coverage, expanding insurance coverage and removing direct and indirect barriers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review and meta-analysis on health services utilization in Iran that completely considers the utilization rate in all health services and states the practical solutions to cope with utilization deficiencies and barriers.