The development of participatory long-term care system for older persons in Phayao province

Abstract

This participatory action research (PAR) aimed at assessing a long-term care system for the older persons using participation process and expanding the results of the long-term care system for the older persons to be used in all districts in the Phayao province. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants consisting of 39 long-term care managers for public health, 235 caregivers for the bedridden elderly, and 39 persons who in charged long-term care fund of local administrative organization. Data were collected using a questionnaire, an interview guideline, and a focus group discussion. Quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The research was carried out in three phases: the first phase was to design a service system in the selected area with one Tambon per one District, and then the second phase was to evaluate and improve the results of the implementation in the first phase to find strategies which suited its context. The third phase was to apply the developed system in every district and cover all sub-districts. The findings revealed that first, the long-term care system with participation process composed of six main concepts (1) team working of committee of the District Health System committee (DHS), (2) focusing on the target audience, (3) participation from communities and network partners, (4) appreciation and giving value, (5) resource sharing and human resource development, ands (6) appropriate care for patients and people in their own context and needs. In addition, this research has developed a long-term care system for the older persons that covered five dimensions including: health, economic, living environment, education, and health care service accessing. The findings suggest that these six main concepts are important guidelines and strategies for healthcare workers to be utilized for developing a long-term care system with participation for the older persons which will lead to service quality and good quality of life for older persons.