Bunpot Chouvat. An empowerment program of Sub-district Administration Organization and health volunteer for AIDS prevention and control in Rachaburi province . Master's Degree(Health Education and Behavioral Sciences). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2003.
An empowerment program of Sub-district Administration Organization and health volunteer for AIDS prevention and control in Rachaburi province
Abstract:
AIDS is a communicable disease that creates problems affecting public health, society, and the
economy. Presently, the number of AIDS patients and HIV infected cases has increased and spread
throughout the area. Measures to prevent and control AIDS in the community should be done by getting
the participation of the community, especially the members of the Sub-district Administrative
Organization and village health volunteers, who are responsible for being the focal point in mobilizing
the resources of the community for carrying out the AIDS prevention and control program. This study
was a quasi-experimental design aimed to assess the effectiveness of an empowerment program for the
members of the Sub-district Administrative Organization and village health volunteers for AIDS
prevention and control program by applying empowerment theory and participatory learning. The
program lasted for 12 weeks. The sample was composed of members of the Sub-district Administration
Organization and village health volunteers : 50 members in Wangmanoaw Sub-district and 48 members
in Hin-gong Sub-district as the experimental and the comparison group ,respectively. Data were collected
before and after the experiment using interviewing schedule and observation guidelines for assessing
the behavioral changes of the sampled members. An interviewing schedule was also used for assessing
villagers’ satisfaction and participation in AIDS prevention and control program. The data were
analyzed using percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, student’s t-test and Paired Samples ttest.
The results of the research showed that the members of the Sub-district Administrative
Organization and village health volunteers, who participated in the program, had changed their
knowledge regarding severity and susceptibility of AIDS, roles and responsibility, attitudes toward
AIDS patients, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. This enabled them to organize the AIDS prevention and
control program. It was also found that the experimental group had organized AIDS prevention and
control activities as follows: developing the plan and the project; assigning the responsible persons;
mobilizing and evaluating participation from the community; and evaluating and following–up the
program. These activities created satisfaction and participation among the villagers. The empowerment
program applying the theory of empowerment and participatory learning was effective in helping the
members of the Sub-district Administrative Organization and village health volunteers organize AIDS
prevention and control program effectively