Factors Affecting Abilities on Health Promotion of Health Officers in Sub-District Health Promoting Hospitals, Pattani Province

Abstract

Sub-district health promoting hospital is the frontline of working on health promotion and it is also very close to population in a community. This cross sectional analytical study aimed to investigate abilities levels and factors affecting abilities on health promotion of health officers in sub – district health promot-ing hospitals in Pattani Province. One hundred and eighteen samples were selected using multistage random sampling. Data were collected using questionnaires. Descriptive statistics: frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation, and backward multiple linear regression were performed for data analysis. The results found that health officers had a high level of abilities on health promotion following the three main strategies of the Ottawa Charter (Mean=3.92, SD=0.47). For each strategy, mediate character was at the highest level (Mean=3.99, SD=0.54), followed by advocate (Mean=3.93, SD=0.53) and enable (Mean=3.81, SD=0.53), respectively. In multiple analyses, managerial factor (ß=0.559) and budgetary factor (ß=0.163) were statistically significantly affected on abilities in health promotion of health officers (p < 0.001 and p=0.049, respectively). The self-efficacy on working in the unrest areas (ß=0.076, p=0.228) was a covariate reserved in the final regression model. The above three factors could predict on abilities in health promotion of the health officers by 45.3%.Concerning public health organizations should develop abilities of health officers in health promotion emphasizing on the skills of public commu-nication, data feedback, public policy building and coordinating with governmental sectors in communi-ties. The administrative cycle: plan, do, check, and act (PDCA) should be considerably used in manage-ments qualitatively and continuously. Also, sufficiently support budgets for compensation of health officers should be considered in administration.