Abstract:
The primary objective of this research is to compare the actual roles of the Village Health Volunteers (VHV.) with the expected roles prescribed by the Office of the Primary Health Cares. The secondary objective is to investigate factors associated with perception and acceptance of the VHVs. It was hypothesized that age, social position, economic status, background knowledge of health, experiences in giving medical cares of the VHVs were related to and had significantly different impact on both actual roles and acceptance of VHVs by the villagers. It was also hypothesized that, likewise, sex, age, social position, economic status, belief in modern medical cares, acquaintance with VHVs, distance to and convenience of health center were related to the acceptance of VHVs by the villagers. How villagers accepted and perceived the VHVs, was thought to depend very much on these factors. This study employed a sample of 260 villagers and 52 VHVs in Muang District of Khon Kaen Province. Respondents were interviewed and several interesting findings were revealed. It was found that all villagers were awared of the existing of VHV in their own village. They recommended that all VHVs should be able to prescribe drugs and be able to provide consultant and medicare services to them when they were sick. Most VHVs were able to observed the expected roles prescribed by the Office of Primary Health Cares. In addition, all VHVs were able to provide a complete coverage in the job of giving health education. With regard to factors associated with the performance it was found that those VHVs who had knowledge and strong background in health, were holding a social position, and had provide service between 1 to 3 years performed better on average than those who possessed none of these qualifications. In terms of acceptance, about 86.5 percent of villagers in the sample viewed the VHVs quite positively. In addition, through chi-square test, certain factors, namely distance of a health center from resident, extent of personal acquaintance with VHVs were related to acceptance of VHVs. Those villagers who lived close to Tambol Health Center, with the distance of not more than 2 kilometers, were more likely to accept the VHVs than those who lived more than 2 kilometers away from the health center. Further, villagers who had personal contact with the VHVs would be more likely to accept the VHVs than those who were not acquainted with the VHVs. It was also found that the acceptance of VHVs influenced the behavior of the villagers. Most villagers who accepted and positively viewed the VHVs would follow the advice regarding health practices closely and were satisfied with the services of the VHVs. Some obstacles for the operation of Primary Health Cares were found. The insufficiency of drug supply made the work of the VHVs ineffective. In addition, these volunteers felt they had a great lost in terms of opportunity cost. They had to spend a lot of their working time which otherwise they could have used for income earning. The psychological impact of this opportunity cost was greater than actual when the volunteers, in several occasions, encountered the lack of cooperation from many parties, including some villagers who would in fact be the beneficiaries of the Primary Health Care Program. With the above mentioned findings, it can be concluded that the perception and acceptance of the role of the VHVs were quite favorable. This reflects the success in the campaigning and public relation on the work of Primary Health Cares. The only problem which existed at the time of this study had to do with the lack of clear understanding about the concept of Primary Health Cares. The crux of the work was on preventive not curative. Many villagers hoped that the VHVs should be able to provide all curative services. This should have not been the case. The Ministry of Public Health, therefore, had to correct the perception and understanding of the villagers as well as some of the VHVs themselves on this matter.