Effect of empowerment program for prevention and control of dengue hemorrhagic fever among village health volunteers in Pongnamron sub-district, Pongnamron district, Chanthaburi province
Abstract:
This quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest two groups design aimed to study the effect of empowerment program for prevention and control of DHF in Pongnamron Sub-district, Pongnamron District, Chanthaburi Province. Participants were village heath volunteers who were randomly selected into experimental group (from 2 villages, totally 25 persons) and comparison group (from 2 villages, totally 26 persons). Participants in experimental group were managed to attend a health education program to pursue their behavioral changes in the prevention and control of DHF. Meanwhile, those in comparison group performed their regular duties as usual. Data were collected through a questionnaire and were analyzed with frequency distribution, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-square test, paired t-test, independent t-test, and Z-test. Study results showed that after the experiment, the mean score on knowledge about DHF, perceived power in prevention and control of DHF, perceived self-efficacy in prevention and control of DHF, and behaviors in prevention and control DHF among those in experimental group were significantly higher than before the experiment and higher than comparison group. Also, the House Index (H.I.) and Container Index (C.I.) became significantly lower than before the experiment and significantly lower than that of comparison group. As this empowerment program was developed as a 5-stages process for the duration of 11 weeks and had a focus on conducting a wide range of activities including the session of actual field practice; therefore it could be applied in any activity to enhance the capability of village health volunteers in catchment areas in the contexts of DHF prevention and control.