Surveillance, Monitoring and Incident Response Plans to Respond to the Spread of Communicable Diseases in Child Development Centers through Community Involvement Under Local Internal Management Mechanisms

Abstract

This mixed-method research study aimed at comparing operation results and knowledge and participation levels in surveillance monitoring and a response plan to respond to the spread of communicable diseases before and after participatory practical research in child development centers under local management mechanisms. The study recruited samples through purposive sampling, which included 138 child development centers in Phatthalung province. The data were collected between March 2021 and October 2022 with teachers from the participating child development centers, personnel from local government organizations, and parents, totaling 222 persons providing information. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics: frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. The results showed that, at the knowledge-seeking stage: child development centers did not have a process for collecting and analyzing data that determines health. There was no assigned person responsible for the collection of information. There was no analysis, review and update information critical to surveillance, monitoring, and response plans for the spread of communicable diseases in the community.  At the reflection stage: a group of participants wanted to develop their potential through an engaging training process. After the training, it was found that knowledge levels of the participants significantly improved from a moderate level (=65.23, SD=4.51), to a high level (=85.79, SD=5.21) at p=0.053.  In implementation and evaluation stages: performance and knowledge and engagement levels were found to improve significantly at p=0.05.