The Effects Of Health Promotion Program for Older Persons in Ban Khok Sa-art, Tambon Sikhio, Sikhio District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was designed to examine effects of health promotion program applied to older persons. The samples were consisted of 50 older persons who were members of older person’s club from Ban Khok Sa-art, Tambon Sikhio, Sikhio District, Nakhon Ratchasima province. Pender’s Health Promotion concept was modified for conceptual framework of this study. The program focused on health behaviors among older persons in 6 aspects: responsibility, exercise, nutrition, social interaction, spiritual development and stress management. Data were collected between December 2017 and February 2018 using questionnaires related to health behaviors and satisfactions of the older persons. The instrument was reviewed for content validity by three experts. The reliability of the instrument was tested with older persons not contained in the sample group and yielded a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.94. The data was analyzed using frequency distributions, percentages, means, standard deviations and paired t-tests.

It was found from this study that the older person’s health behaviors after attending the health promotion programs were significantly higher than before attending the program (t=6.64, p<.001). When classified older person’s health behaviors into 6 aspects, the average health behavior scores after attending the program were all significantly higher than before attending the program at p = 0.05. The older persons’ satisfactions to the activities in the health promotion program were at a high level with average score of 3.83 (SD=0.41). The overview satisfaction of the program was at a medium level.

It can be concluded from this study that the program helped the older persons gained good health and satisfaction. Therefore, the program should be applied extensively and continuously to other older person groups.