The Parent’s Decision Making to Send Relative to Study at College’s Faculty of Public Health and Allied Health Sciences, Praboromarajchanok Institute, Ministry of Public Health

Abstract

This research study aims to investigate parents’ possible reasons and demographic factors that are associated with parents’ decision making regarding sending their children to study at a particular college, the Faculty of Public Health and Allied Health Sciences, Praboromarajchanok Institute, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. We explored five different aspects that may influence parents’ decision including: 1) college’s image and reputation, 2) personal reasons, 3) socio-economic factors, 4) public relations, and 5) location and environment. A total of 351 parents participated in our study. We developed a questionnaire to collect data. The questionnaire had adequate content validity (0.67 < Item Objective Congruence (IOC) index score < 1.00), and good reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.91). Data were collected in May 2020. The statistics used for data analysis were descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The results revealed that: Overall, parents rated their decision to send their children to study in the college at a high level ( =4.16, SD =0.54). In terms of different aspects, the image and reputation of the college ( =4.43, SD =0.87) and socio-economic factors ( =4.48, SD =0.54) were at the highest level. Also, public relations ( =4.02, SD =0.87) as well as the location and environment ( =4.14, SD =0.64) were at a high level. Only personal reasons ( = 3.26, SD =1.04) were at a moderate level. When comparing decision-making among different groups, there were significant differences. Scores for overall decision making varied by the program being studied programs (P-value = 0.019). The scores for different aspects of decision making also varied among different groups. Scores for socio-economic factors differed by the program being studied (P-value <0.001). Scores for personal reasons differed by income level (P-value =0.049). Scores for location and environment differed by student relationship (P-value =0.020). However, there were not differences across gender, age, marital status, domicile, educational and occupation.

The findings from our research suggest that the colleges should widely publish tuition fee and program information. The program director should also promote a modern curriculum, which is attractive to parents and that motivates them to send their children as students to the college.