Community Health Diagnosis and Problem Solving Using Community Participation in Nang Lae Sub-District, Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

This participatory action research was aimed to health status, diagnosing and solutions of community health problems by using community participation process in Nang Lae sub-district, Chiang Rai province. There were two techniques applied for data collection. Firstly, quantitative data collection method was used to conduct data from 400 people living in the community. Systematic sampling was used to recruit participants, aged 15-90 year olds. The research instrument was a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Secondly, qualitative data collection method was used to assess community health problems through community forum and focus group discussion. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 20 villagers who voluntarily participated in the study. Research data collection methods were written notes and a tape recorder. Data were analyzed using content analysis techniques. The research revealed in the quantitative data that community health problems were divided into three levels: individual, family and community. There were three problems found at the individual level: chronic illness, health risk behaviors and suffering from stress that causes depression. In addition, there were two problems found at family level: lack of caregivers in family and disturbance from environmental factors. Lastly, a lack of community care system was found at the level of community problem. Furthermore, this research revealed in the qualitative data that the health risk behavior problem was the first priority concerned among villagers. Since all community health problems were related and affects people’s health, the community participation would be one of the suggested ways to solve those problems. Research suggests that the local administrative organization should concern with health problems found in this community by planning health promotional activities, as well as integrating collaboration solutions with other sectors, such as a local health promoting hospital for developing holistic health promotional projects in order to improve the quality of life for the people in the community.