Health Literacy for Preventing Hazards from Agricultural Chemicals through Social Support Processes in Ubon Ratchathani Province Communities

Abstract

This quasi-experimental research utilized a social support process to study agricultural chemical safety literacy in a community in Ubon Ratchathani Province. The study involved a population of 782 individuals, with a purposive sampling of 213 participants from the community with the highest agricultural chemical usage in the province. The research employed a social support process based on the 3E safety theory: Engineering, Education, and Enforcement, conducted over eight sessions spanning three months. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire, with content validity indices of 0.76 and 0.82, respectively. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, including mean, frequency, percentage, standard deviation, and paired t-test.

The results revealed that most community members exhibited a high level of health literacy (93.9%) and safety behavior (92.0%) following the social support intervention based on the 3E safety theory. The average scores for health literacy and behavior showed statistically significant improvements, with a p-value < 0.001.

In conclusion, the community-based social support process utilizing the 3E safety management principles effectively enhanced health literacy for agricultural chemical safety. This led to improved safety behaviors in chemical usage within the community, indicating its potential applicability for safety management in other communities.