Developing Social Innovations through Community Processes to Promote Well-being of the Elderly in Klantha Subdistrict, Mueang District, Buriram Province

Abstract

Objective of this participatory action research was to develop social innovations through community processes to promoting well-being among elderly in Klantha subdistrict, Mueang district, Buriram province. The research, conducted from November 2022-March 2023, has 3 steps as follows: step 1-analysis of health status of the elderly in the community and social innovations to promoting well-being of the elderly in Kalanta subdistrict; step 2-Development of social innovations to promote well-being of the elderly; and step 3-Implementation and evaluation. Tools used in the research included Ministry of Public Health’s screening and health assessment form, questionnaires on holistic Elderly well-being assessment and satisfaction assessment. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis.

Results showed that development of social innovation to promoting well-being of the elderly through community processes consisted of 4 steps: 1) participation of the health problem situation  and community needs analysis; 2) participation of the planning of activities and problem priority setting of the stakeholders; 3) participation of the implementation; and 4) Participation of the evaluation. Health innovations developed from the analysis of health problems include 5 pieces including coconut shells for balance training, fun chairs for exercise, fun spinning wheel, herbal compress balls and a set of activities to prevent dementia. Average satisfaction assessment scores after the implementation was at 4.18 (SD=0.69). Participants’ well-being average scores after participating the activities were significantly higher than before participating the activities (p<0.05).