Effectiveness of a Health Literacy Program on the Health Behavior in High-risk Diabetes and Hypertension Groups

Abstract

Diabetes and hypertension are chronic non-communicable diseases with increasing morbidity which lead to death from severe complications. The aim of this quasi-experimental, r2-group, pre-posttest design research was to study the effectiveness of a health literacy promotion program in high- risk diabetes and hypertension patients in the primary health care network at the sub-district health promotion hospital level in a district of Songkhla Province. The sample population was 64 people recruited using simple random sampling with no return, with 32 participants in the experimental and control groups, respectively. The research was conducted from January 1, 2023 to March 30, 2024. The control group received normal behavior modification in the standard treatment protocols, while the experimental group received the health literacy program, for a period of 3 months. The instruments used were a health literacy questionnaire which included six dimensions and the health behavior on 3E 2S. The consistency between the questions and the objectives was 1 and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient were 0.83 for the health literacy questionnaire and 0.80 for the health behavior questionnaire. The personal data of the sample group were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. The mean values ​​were compared within the groups before and after the experiment using paired t-tests and between the groups after the experiment using independent t-tests. The results of the research found that, after the experiment, the experimental group had a mean scores for knowledge ( =176.63, S.D.=6.54) and health behavior ( =68.75, S.D.=2.00) that were significantly better than before the experiment and better than the control group at a statistically significant level of p<.001. This indicates that the program can promote knowledge and healthy behavior among people who are at high risk for diabetes and hypertension. The health literacy program should be implemented in other non-communicable disease risk groups, diabetes and hypertension patients, as well as in other contexts to increase the potential for individuals to have good health literacy and change their health behaviors to prevent and control disease.