Correlation of Personal Factors, Health Literacy, and Preventive Behavior of COVID-19 among Village Health Volunteers in Banyang, Meaung District, Buriram Province

Abstract

The objectives of this analytic cross-sectional survey research were to examine personal factors, health literacy, and preventive behaviors against COVID-19 infection and to investigate relationships between personal factors and health literacy with preventive behaviors against COVID-19 infection among village health volunteers (VHVs) in Ban Yang sub-district, Mueang district, Buriram province. Samples consisted of 820 VHVs residing in Ban Yang sub-district. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficients.

The findings revealed that the majority of the participants were females Their health literacy and preventive behaviors in performing surveillance tasks during the COVID-19 outbreak were at a high level. Factors found to be significantly associated with the preventive behaviors included age, education, years of experience as a VHV, and health literacy in all aspects. In conclusion, the development of knowledge, support from the government, and community participations help enhance the role of VHVs in effective epidemic surveillance. They contribute to a stronger public health system that is better prepared to cope with future epidemics.