Effectiveness of social engagement and support programs for behavior change prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 of the elderly in the elderly club of Huaimuang Subdistrict, Kamphaeng Saen District, Nakhon Pathom Province

Abstract

     The objective of the quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effectiveness of social engagement and support programs for behavior change prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 of the elderly in the elderly club of Huaimuang Subdistrict, Kamphaeng Saen District, Nakhon Pathom Province. There was a total of 60 samples which were divided into two groups. The experimental group consisted of 30 elderlies, and the control group consisted of 30 elderlies. The experimental group was elderlies in Huaimuang sub-district, Kamphaeng Saen district, Nakhon Pathom Province, and the control group was elderlies in Huai Mon Thong sub-district, Kamphaeng Saen district, Nakhon Pathom Province. The experimental group received the program for 12 weeks, and the control group did not receive the program. Data were collected from questionnaires twice, before and after experiments during October, 2022, and February, 2023, and were analyzed by descriptive statistics and presented in percentages, mean, standard deviations, medians, percentile 25th and percentile 75th. Comparing differences in average scores of variables of each group relied on the paired t-test and comparing differences in averages scores of variables between groups based on the independent t-test determined with a statistical significance level at 5%. The results showed that, the results of comparing differences in scores on Knowledge about Coronavirus Disease 2019, attitude towards prevention and control of Coronavirus Disease 2019, risk perception of Coronavirus Disease 2019, perceived severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019, strength social support for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus disease 2019, the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus disease 2019, their perception of their efficacy in the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus disease 2019, and prevention behavior. And control of coronavirus disease 2019 in the experimental group were higher than before the experiment and then those in the control group with a statistically significant level at 0.05. The results of the research show that the developed program can change the prevention behavior corona virus 2019 infectious disease of elderlies in accordance with the established objectives.