The Effects of Program Development a Health Literacy Development Program for Stroke PreventionThrough Participation Learning of Village Health Volunteers

Abstract

     This quasi-experimental research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a health literacy development program for stroke prevention using participatory learning among Village Health Volunteers (VHVs). The program focused on enhancing health literacy skills and promoting stroke prevention behaviors. The study population consisted of VHVs in Mueang Suphan Buri District. The sample was selected via simple random sampling, with VHVs from Pho Phraya Sub-district Health Promoting Hospital forming the experimental group and VHVs from Pihan Daeng Sub-district Health Promoting Hospital serving as the comparison group. The sample size was determined using G*Power with an effect size of 0.80 at a .05 significance level, resulting in 30 participants per group. The intervention lasted 8 weeks.

     The research instruments included: 1) A health literacy development program for community stroke prevention through participatory learning, comprising four skill areas: access, understanding, appraisal, and application; 2) A health literacy questionnaire for stroke prevention; and 3) A stroke prevention behavior questionnaire. The instruments were validated by experts with a Content Validity Index (CVI) of 1.00 for both, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of .92 and .92, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and t-tests to compare mean scores of stroke prevention behaviors and health literacy within and between groups before and after the intervention.

     The results revealed that after participating in the program, the experimental group had significantly higher mean scores for both health literacy and stroke prevention behaviors compared to their pre-intervention scores and higher than those of the comparison group at a .05 significance level.

     Recommendations for future research include conducting follow-up assessments at 6 months or 1 year to evaluate the sustainability of health literacy and behavioral changes. Furthermore, the program should be adapted for other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Utilizing a mixed-methods research approach is also suggested, as integrating quantitative and qualitative data would provide more comprehensive insights to further refine the program for target populations.