Abstract:
The continuous quality of life development for the Royal Thai Army under the quality of life
development project has parceled from 1999 up to the present, it shows that the Royal Thai Army has
recognized the importance of quality of life of army officers. Health promotion is one aspect of quality
of life that has been developed. This cross-section survey research aimed to study health-promoting
behavior, and factors affecting and determining health-promoting behavior in the Royal Thai Army.
The health-promoting behaviors studied were dietary, physical exercise, smoking, alcohol drinking,
and traffic accident prevention behaviors. The study group comprised 1,043 Thai Army personnel and
9 army administrative officers. The data were collected by questionnaire during October and December,
2006. The data were analyzed by computing frequency, percentage, arithmetic means, standard deviation,
Chi-square, Pearsons Product Moment coefficient Correlation and Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis.
The results of the research showed that 38.7 percent of the Royal Thai Army had very good
level of health-promoting behavior, while 22.7 percent needed to be improved. 90.3 percent of the
Sample performed physical exercise at the very good level while most of them performed the behaviors
regarding diet, non-alcohol drinking and traffic accident prevention at a moderate level. Regarding nonsmoking
behavior, 41.2 percent needed to be improved. Although health-promoting behavior of the
Royal Thai Army was generally found to be very good and moderate level, some of its healthpromoting
behaviors needed to be improved. For example, 33.2 percent consumed 1-2 meals a day, 53.0
percent drink energy boosting beverages everyday and very often, 28.4 percent had tea/coffee
everyday and very often, 41.2 percent currently smoked, 61.2 percent drank alcoholic beverages, 76.1
percent used safety helmets every time, 46.7 percent used safety belts every time, 39.3 percent had
consumed alcoholic beverages within 1 hour before driving, 29.0 percent had used stimulant drugs before
driving, and 46.9 did not cross the street at crossing-street signs. The factors that were found to affect
health-promoting behaviors of the subjects significantly (p<.05) were age, educational level, attitude
towards health promotion, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived benefits of performing healthpromoting
behavior. Regarding prediction of health-promoting behavior of the Royal Thai Army, four
ranking variables were found to be able to predict health-promoting behavior. In descending order, they
were : perceived self-efficacy; educational education; gender; and status.
In order to promote the health of the Royal Thai Army, relevant army units should recognize the
importance of encourage Thai Army officers consuming 3 meals a day; to lowering/quitting drinking
energy booster beverages; and quitting smoking and alcohol drinking. They should develop awareness
among Thai Army officers regarding traffic injury prevention. Future health-promotion activities should
focus on the morals and ethics of the staff and their families and economic efficiency. Further research
should be made to cover additional variables that can predict health promoting behavior, and evaluative
research should also be done in order to evaluate all aspects of the health promotion program of the
Royal Thai Army, and to assess the accomplishments and problems/obstacles which will be useful for
improving this program.