The Effectiveness of a Health Behavior Modification Program on Risk Factor Reduction in Patients with Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases Attending at Tambon Health Promotion Hospital in the Southern Thailand

Abstract

     This quasi-experimental research (one-group pretest-posttest design) aimed to study the effects of a health behavior modification program on risk factors reduction in patients with chronic NCDs who attended at a Tambon Health Promoting Hospital in Southern Thailand. The program was created based on Transtheoretical Model (TTM).  Sample was 46 patients with diabetes or hypertension or both diseases who attended at Khao-Huachang Health Promotion Hospital of Khanom district in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, and voluntarily participated in the program. The experiment was carried out by organizing 3 activities in 3 months. The program’s follow-up was performed by village health volunteers (VHS) for 6 months. Research tools were an interview form, and a questionnaire. Content validity of those tools were validated by experts, obtaining values of 0.797, and 0.72, respectively. Data were collected between March and September, 2019, and then analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test, and Wilcoxon Signs test.

      Results showed that, after participating into the program: 1) the patients’ determination to change their behaviors were significantly higher than before participating (p < 0.001), 2) the disease control practice slightly increased, but not significantly, 3) risk factors including BMI, systolic BP, blood sugar, waist circumference, and HbA1C were significantly reduced (p<0.01), 3) the values for reduction of BMI, systolic BP, blood sugar, and HbA1C, were 60.87 %, 84.79%, 80.44%, and 80.44%, respectively, while waist circumference reduction was 72.73% in male, and 68.57% in female.