Perception of Non Communicable Diseases and Health Behavior among high school students: Case Study

Abstract

Abstract

Noncommunicable diseases are the leading cause of death in Thailand, causing losses at the family level and national level representing an economic value of over 280 billion baht. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are mainly caused by co-behavioral risk factors, most of which can be prevented. The purpose of this study was to study the perception of non-communicable diseases, health behavior and factors related to health behaviors. This study is a survey research, collect data by an online survey (Google form). Population in this study was a group of high school student, grade 9-12 in Bangkok, Nontaburi and Samutprakarn who could access the internet. An online survey was sent to the sample group via classroom social media groups. There were 229 students responded. The data was collected in December 2022 – January 2023. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participant demographic characteristic and perception of non-communicable diseases such as mean, percentage, frequency and standard deviation. Pearson’s Correlation was used to analyze factors associated with health behaviors.

The results of the study revealed that from all 229 respondents, most of them were female (n=149, 65.10%), and most of them studied at grade 11 (n=71, 31.00%). with health from Social media (n=148, 64.60%). Most of the respondents had a moderate level of perception about NCDs (n=110, 48.00%), followed by a low level of perception (n=101, 44.10%). The most correctly answered question is Which of the following is not a disease classified as NCDs? Cancer is caused by Which of the following is not directly related to heart disease? The question that answered the least correctly was Which of the following is not a major factor in the occurrence of chronic non-communicable diseases? What non-communicable disease kills the most Americans? And which of the following is true about drinking alcohol? Most of the respondents had moderate health behaviors (n=130, 56.7%). The behavior that is always practiced were to avoid exposure to cigarette smoke, abstinence from drinking alcohol, doing recreational activities to relieve stress. For the behavior that least practiced were eating fried food, eating sweet foods and eating foods high in sodium.  No variables were found to correlate with health behaviors which was statistically significant. Perceptions of non-communicable diseases were positively correlated with news channels receiving healthcare information (r= 0.158*, p<0.05). Conclusion: The sample's perception of non-communicable diseases was at the middle level. The respondents were aware of which disease is a non-communicable disease. The respondents had a moderate health behavior. The least practiced health behavior is food consumption behavior. There should be education about non-communicable diseases, disease incidence factors, prevention, and health behaviors are increasing due to having good health behaviors since adolescence affecting the long-term health of secondary school students. And there should be a time for sports activities, exercise during school time.