Factors influencing the health promoting behaviors of village health volunteers in Sukhothai Province
Keywords:
Health promotion, Health promotion behavior, Village health volunteersAbstract
This descriptive research aimed to examine the factors influencing the health promoting behaviors of village health volunteers (VHVs) in Sukhothai Province. The study sample comprised 486 VHVs selected by systematic random sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis.
Results indicated that perceived susceptibility (Mean = 4.38, S.D. = 0.65), perceived severity (Mean = 4.37, S.D. = 0.67), perceived benefits (Mean = 4.41, S.D. = 0.65), and health-promoting behaviors among VHVs were at a high level (Mean = 3.95, S.D. = 0.48), whereas perceived barriers (Mean = 3.03, S.D. = 0.99) were at a moderate level. The strongest predictor of health-promoting behaviors among VHVs was perceived benefits (ฺβ = 0.30), followed by perceived susceptibility (β = 0.18), female gender (β = 0.13), upper secondary education or vocational certificate education level (β = 0.13), and duration of being a VHV (β = 0.10), respectively. These five predictors together explained 27.2% of the variance in health-promotion behaviors, with statistical significance at the 0.05 level. Based on the findings, relevant agencies should promote perceived benefits and perceived susceptibility as well as provide continuous support for health behavior modification to enable VHVs to sustain desirable health-promoting behaviors.
References
Announcement of the Ministry of Public Health on Commendation of Outstanding Village Health Volunteers (No. 2), B.E. 2567. (2024, February 28). Royal Thai Government Gazette, Vol. 141, Special Section 56 D, p. 5. (in Thai)
Best, J. W. (1977). Research in education. (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Becker, M. H., & Maiman, L. A. (1975). Sociobehavioral determinants of compliance with health and medical care recommendations. Medical Care, 13(1), 10-24.
Browne, R. H. (1995). On the use of a pilot sample for sample size determination. Statistics in Medicine, 14(17), 1933-1940.
Cronbach, L. J. (1984). Essentials of psychology and education. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Daniel, W. W., & Cross, C. L. (2013). Biostatistics: A foundation for analysis in the health sciences. (10th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Department of Health Service Support. (2019). Data reporting form for the village health volunteer database system. Retrieved May 14, 2023, from https://www.thaiphc.netnew2020/content/1. (in Thai)
Jaikham, J., Wungrath, J., & Thongprachum, A. (2021). Health literacy and health promoting behaviors regarding 3E.2S. among village health volunteers in Ban Hong District, Lamphun Province. Journal of Health Sciences Scholarship, 8(2), 1-24. (in Thai)
Jearapakdee, N., Kaewthong, N., & Jitbunjong, P. (2024). Factors influencing health promotion behaviors of village health volunteers (VHV) in the service area of subdistrict health promotion hospital in Pak Kret District, Nonthaburi Province. Nursing, Health, and Education Journal, 7(3), 68-82. (in Thai)
Lorlowhakarn, S., & Narintharuksa, P. (2021). Health literacy, health behavior and quality of life of Phuket village health volunteers. Journal of Health Science, 30(Suppl 3), 414-422. (in Thai)
Moonti, J. (2021). Factors influencing preventive behavior of coronavirus disease 2019 among village health volunteers in Kong Krailat District, Sukhothai Province. The Office of Disease Prevention and Control 9th Nakhon Ratchasima Journal, 27(2), 5-14. (in Thai)
Murdaugh, C. L., Parsons, M. A., & Pender, N. J. (2019). Health promotion in nursing practice. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Primary Health Care Division. (2018). 4 Decades of primary health care. Nonthaburi: Department of Health Service Support. (in Thai)
Rovinelli, R. J., & Hambleton, R. K. (1977). On the use of content specialists in the assessment of criterion-referenced test item validity. Tijdschrift voor Onderwijsresearch, 2(2), 49-60.
Regulation of the Ministry of Public Health on Assistance in Medical Treatment (No. 9), B.E. 2565. (2022, June 29). Royal Thai Government Gazette, Vol. 139, Special Section D, p. 1. (in Thai)
Soponnithinat, M., & Yaebkai, Y. (2024). Competency of administration management for healthy organizations among village health volunteers in Sawankhalok District, Sukhothai Province. The Primary Health Care Journal (Northern Edition), 34(1), 28-37. (in Thai)
Suvarnathong, P., Intarasorn, W., & Boonkord, W. (2023). Factors related to prevention and control behavior on dengue fever of village health volunteers in the area of responsibility Samed Sub-District Health Promoting Hospital, Muang District, Chon Buri Province. Research and Development Health System Journal, 16(3), 169-182. (in Thai)
Sukhampha, R., Khwanriang, P., & Vaisamruat, K. (2023). Women on the frontline of Covid-19: Understanding local women village health volunteers in the northern province of Thailand. BMC Health Services Research, 23, 298. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09305-x.
Sukhothai Provincial Public Health Office. (2022). Criteria for outstanding evaluation of health-promoting village health volunteer organizations: Self-awareness, risk reduction, disease prevention, and behavior modification. Sukhothai: Sukhothai Provincial Public Health Office. (in Thai)
World Health Organization. (1986). Ottawa charter for health promotion. First International Conference on Health Promotion, Ottawa, 21 November 1986. Retrieved May 14, 2023, from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/ottawa-charter-for-health-promotion.
Wikkanesrungsun, P., Thaopan, W. W., Sriyotha, P., Boottree, K., & Salakinhiranyagun, K. (2024). Factors related to oral health care behaviors among the village health volunteers at the service area of Health Promoting Hospital, Na Kae District, Nakhon Phanom Province. Thai Dental Nurse Journal, 35(2), 24-6. (in Thai)
Yimnarin, N. (2022). Factors affecting the health promoting behaviors of village health volunteers in Thung Saliam District, Sukhothai Province. Northern Regional Primary Health Care Journal, 32(2), 9-23. (in Thai)
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Public Health and Health Sciences Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The published article is copyrighted by the Journal of Public Health and Health Sciences Research.
The statements that appear in each article in this academic and research journal are the personal opinions of each author and are not related to Naresuan University and other faculty members in the university. Responsibilities regarding each article are the responsibility of each author.
