ปัจจัยทำนายคุณภาพชีวิต ของบุคลากรทางการศึกษาภาครัฐในเขตภาคตะวันออก

บทคัดย่อ

Context: A person’s full potential productivity has a correspondence with his or her quality of life. Therefore, in the public education sphere, determining the quality of life of government education personnel includes mental, emotional and spiritual factors. Focusing solely on the
eastern region of Thailand, it will help first to understand the living situations of public educators in this territory, in order to make predictions or create activities to encourage the workforce to have a better quality of life.
Objective: To study the mental, emotional and spiritual factors affecting the quality of life of government educators in the eastern region of the country.
Materials and Methods: In this exploratory research project, a sample of 388 teachers and public school administrators from the eastern regions of Chonburi, Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi and Rayong provinces was selected. The sample size was determined using Krejcie and Morgan tables9 with multistage randomization. The research instruments were the Thai happiness index, a general health questionnaire, a spiritual well-being questionnaire and the World Health Organization’s quality of life assessment (abbreviated Thai version). Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were used for data analysis.
Results: The results revealed that most of the samples were female (70.6%), with an average age of 38 years. 57.7% of the participants had attained a bachelor’s degree, were working an average of 12.09 years, and had an average teaching load of 17.81 hours per week. 74.20% had
no congenital diseases. 92.8% of the participants were non-smokers, and 81.44% did not drink alcohol. 35.86% exercised once a month – 58% of those by walking. 46.9% of the participants exercised between 4.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m., (with 28.35% wanting to change their exercise behavior. From our sample, the overall quality of life was within the criteria of a good quality of life. The average happiness score was at the same level as a general person in other work industries. The participants were in general health, with no mental health problems and a high spiritual well-being. Factors related to their quality of life were found as follows:

(1) The Thai happiness index variable and the work duration variable significantly predicted the quality of life variables at the .01 level. The predicted equation was as follows: quality of life = 43.779 + (1.632 x Thai happiness index variable) + (0.154 x duration of being a teacher).
(2) Married participants had a 2.03 times better quality of life than single, widowed, divorced and separated personnel, with a statistical significance (p < .01).
(3) The relationship between income and quality of life factors found that those with residual income, either from earned income or for emergency use, were associated with a good quality of life. It was 7.68 times and 4.30 times higher, respectively, compared to those with insufficient incomes, with a statistical significance (p < .01).
(4) The correlation between congenital disease and quality of life found that the group with no underlying diseases was 2.63 times more associated with a good quality of life, than the group with congenital diseases, at a statistical significance at the .01 level.
Conclusion: Although the overall public educator had happiness, spiritual well-being and quality of life at good levels, they would still like to adjust, i.e. increase, their exercise behavior. Additionally, work duration correlated to their quality of life. The married status group too was associated with a better quality of life than the single, widowed, divorced or separated participants. Likewise, the surplus income and emergency residual income groups were both related to good qualities of life. The people without any underlying diseases correlated to
a good quality of life more than the group with congenital diseases. Therefore, educational institution administrators should establish policies that allow personnel to have the chance to perform health activities as needed, and create activities to enhance the quality of life to improve society, environment and health.