Expected and Actual Roles of Phichit Health Volunteers as Community Health Managers Assessed through Self- and Public Health Officials’ Evaluations

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to assess the expected and actual community health manager roles of Phichit health volunteers through self-evaluation and evaluation by Phichit public health officials, and to study the relationship between the actual roles of the health volunteers and their personal characteristics and motivation. It was conducted as descriptive research during June to August 2015. The samples were 383 health volunteers and 107 public health officials. Data was collected via questionnaires. Statistics used in this study included percentage, mean, standard deviation, paired t-test, independent t-test, and Chi-squared test. It was found that in every category, the expected and actual roles of the volunteers, both assessed through self-evaluations and public health official’s evaluations, were statistically significantly different at the 0.05 level. For the expected roles in health behavior, participation in health management, and leadership in community health promotion, self- and public health officials’ evaluations were different (p<0.05). For the actual roles in health behavior and leadership in community health promotion, selfevaluations and public health official’s evaluations were different (p<0.05). Lastly, duration of work and motivation were statistically related to the actual roles (p<0.05). The author suggested that for health volunteer training, one should emphasize on practical methods that could improve the health behaviors to become health promotion models in the communities.