The Effectiveness of Health Education Program by Application Self-Efficacy and Group Process on Exercise Promoting Behavior with Thai Esan Folkdance (Zerng) among Elderly

Abstract

Through the demographic transition the proportion of elderly in Thailand
increases. The health of the elderly is affected by chronic diseases among other reasons
due to unhealthy behavior. Thai Esan Folk Dance (Zerng) might be good for health since
the rhythmic activities applied helps in exercising. The dance is a traditional heritage of the
Northeastern region. This quasi-experimental research aimed to investigate the
effectiveness of a health education program by the application of self – efficacy and a
group process on exercise promoting behavior with Thai Esan Folk Dance (Zerng) among
elderly. The participants were elderly aged 60 to 69 years. They were divided into an
experimental and a control group of 43 participants each. The experimental group was
exposed to the health education program that comprised of different facets such as
lectures, distribution of handbooks, exercises, group process initiating, modeling, training
and practice the Thai Esan Folk Dance (Zerng). The intervention was implemented for 12
weeks. Data was collected before and after the intervention from both groups by
interviews. Ordinary descriptive statistics were used for assessing the outcome of the study
and for analytical purposes inferential statistics such as the paired t-test and the
independent t-test was applied. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05 with95%
confidence intervals (95%CI).
After implementation, the experimental group had significantly higher mean
scores of knowledge, perceived self-efficacy of exercise, outcome expectation of exercise,
and exercisable practice than before the implementation and the control group at
p-value<0.001. The experimental group liked the exercise by the Thai Esan Folk Dance
(Zerng) very much. It is suggested that the Thai Esan Folk Dance (Zerng) exercise should be
promoted for groups of elderly within communities.