The development of a model for enhancing environmental health literacy to promote behaviors for the prevention and elimination of Aedes mosquito larvae, aiming to reduce the risk of dengue fever in the community

Abstract

The research and development aimed to: 1) examine the situation and factors regarding environmental health literacy that influenced behaviors related to the prevention and elimination of Aedes mosquito larvae; 2) develop a model for enhancing environmental health literacy suitable for the community context; and 3) evaluate the effectiveness of the model in changing behaviors. The research was conducted in three phases, which included a situational study involving 425 participants, the development of the model through workshops, and the implementation of the model in Huai Rob sub-district, involving 160 households over a period of three months.The research tools included a questionnaire assessing health literacy and disease prevention behaviors, which had been validated by experts, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.95 and 0.92, respectively. The quantitative data were analyzed using statistical methods including percentages, standard deviations, multiple regression analysis, and Paired t-tests. For qualitative data, content analysis was employed.

     The research results indicated that: 1) Overall, environmental health literacy was at a moderate level (mean score of 2.80), with the lowest evaluation score being 2.65; 2) The "CLEAR Model" was developed, which encompassed community collaboration, collaborative learning, environmental surveying, joint actions, and review and reward processes; and 3) After implementing the model, health literacy increased by 57.38%, preventive behavior improved by 56.73%, and the index of Aedes mosquito larvae reduced to zero by week 5. These findings demonstrated that the developed model was effective in promoting behaviors for the prevention and elimination of mosquito larvae in the community. Recommendations suggested expanding the trial implementation of the CLEAR Model to other communities to assess its effectiveness in different contexts.