Abstract:
This descriptive study focus on older Thai nuns. It aims to explore their
health status, health-seeking behavior and factors related to their utilization of the
health care system. Smiths health model and Kleinmans explanatory model of
illness were used to guide this study. The sample consisted of 70 older Thai nuns who
were selected from six temples in Bangkok by purposive sampling. The quantitative
data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the qualitative data from the
interviews were analyzed using content analysis.
The results revealed that older Thai nuns had acute illness at a rate of about
88.6% and chronic illness at a rate of about 94.3%. They were able to perform most of
the basic activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living but they
had urinary incontinence about 54.3% and 34.3% could not use public transport by
themselves. Most of them could perform daily morning-evening chanting and practice
meditation. 71.8% of them performed good deeds for the benefit of society. They
could not adapt to the temples environment and to the degeneration of their physical
health 1.4%. Most of them (52.8%) were able to accomplish goal in their lives.
Health-seeking behavior was the maintenance of good health and self-care response to
illness. When sick, the older Thai nuns used the popular sectors such as family
neighbor, social-nexus, and community first before they decided to seek care service
from alternative sectors: professional sectors such as the physician and folk sectors
such as herbs, and Thai massage. They might have used two to three sectors at the
same time or interchangeably in three sectors. Factors involving utilization of health
care system included health care system, health team members, and client factors.
This study increases understanding of health status of older Thai nuns
resulting in guiding the health team members to provide health care for older nuns so
that they can care themselves and others.