Capacity and Factors Associated with the Performance of Health Personnel in Promoting Hypertension Literacy Among People in Mae Hong Son Province

Abstract

     This cross-sectional survey aimed to examine the capacity of health personnel, the level of performance, and the factors associated with and predictive of the performance of health personnel in promoting hypertension literacy among people in Mae Hong Son Province. The sample consisted of 209 health personnel working in subdistrict health-promoting hospitals and Queen Sirikit Health Stations under the Ministry of Public Health. The research instrument was a six-part questionnaire with a content validity index of 0.98. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis.

     The results showed that most participants were female (67.50%), aged 30–39 years (33.50%), and worked as public health academics, public health officers, or technical public health officers (52.63%). Overall performance in promoting hypertension literacy was at a frequent level (= 2.99, S.D. = 0.54). Attitudes toward health literacy were at a strongly agree level (= 4.41, S.D. = 0.42), while health literacy skills were at a good level (= 3.89, S.D. = 0.46). Attitudes (r = 0.377, p < .01), skills (r = 0.505, p < .01), and training in health literacy ( = 0.203, p = 0.003) were positively associated with performance. The seven predictors jointly explained 33.7% of the variance in performance (F = 14.581, p < .001). Significant predictors were training in health literacy (B = 3.026, Beta = 0.203, p = .006), attitudes (B = 0.728, Beta = 0.203, p = .005), and skills (B = 0.935, Beta = 0.492, p < .001), with skills showing the strongest effect.