The Role of Community in the Process of Health Planning Performance in Nongson Sub-District Administrative Organizaton of Nathom District in Nakhon Phanom Province

Abstract

This research aims to study and compare the role of community in the health planning process and to study guidelines for creating community role in the health planning process in Nongson Sub-District Administrative Organization, Nathom District, Nakhon Phanom Province. The sample group consisted of 325 heads of households residing in Nongson Sub-District, 14 representatives of village public health volunteers, 1 director of a Sub-District health promoting hospital, 17 village headmen from 14 villages, and 3 representatives of the Public Health Department and Environment of Nathom Sub-District Administrative Organization. The research tools used in this research were questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and analyzed data by calculating frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent t-test, F-test, and descriptive data analysis. The results showed that household heads' opinions on the community's role in the health planning process in the Nongson Sub-District Administrative Organization were at a high level which the different genders, ages, and education levels of the household heads had different opinions on the role of the community in the health planning process in Nongson Sub-District Administrative Organization significantly at the .05 level. As for guidelines for creating community role in the health planning process showed that a meeting forum should be held within the village to obtain guidelines for preparing a plan to solve public health problems, to brainstorm ideas, to propose solutions for public health problems in the village, and to allow people to express their opinions, suggestions, or various information.