The Utilization of Social Capital for Health among People in Tambon Tha Kham Hat Yai District, Songkhla Province

Abstract

This descriptive study was aimed at investigating the utilization of social capital for healthamong people in Tambon Tha Kham, HatYai district, Songkhla province. The informants, recruitedfrom the key persons and the group leaders in the community, were 27 persons which composed ofvillage headmen, Islamic priests, Buddhist priests, group leaders, village health volunteers, folkmedicine healers, chief of heath care centers, school principles, and a chief administrator of the Subdistrict Administrative Organization (SAO). A focus group, an interview, and document studieswere used as the technique of data collection. Data was analyzed using a process of content analysis.

The study found that the social capitals for health in Tambon Tha Kham, Hat Yai district werecomposed of people, community organization, government organization, non-government organi-zation, religious institutions and local wisdom. The social capital for health have been using formultiple purposes such as 1) health promotions which consisted of several aspects including nutri-tion, child development and dental health, pregnant women, post-pregnancy and elder persons, sportand exercise, and mental health; 2) health preventions which included health screening, immuniza-tion, environmental management, and protection risk and addictive behavior; 3) treatment and reha-bilitation which consisted of basic medical care for sick students, treatment, social welfare benefitson medical expenses and transport services, and health care and advisory services.

The barriers of social capital for health utilization among people in Tambon Tha Kham weredivided into 3 parts; 1) individual features such as unawareness toward healthcare, tiredness atwork, and personal values toward using health services, 2) family features such as paying no atten-tion, eating lifestyles, and no caregivers 3) environmental features for example, no follow-up, un-pleasant places, and no leaders. Therefore, the health care personnel should maximize existing so-cial capital for health’s ability and using process for the benefit of health.