The Effect of A Potential Development Program for Village Health Volunteer’s Caring for the Home Bound and Bedridden Elders in Mueangphotawat Community Health Center, Surat Thani Province

Abstract

This research is a quasi-experimental research: a one-group pretest-posttest design.           The objective of this research is to study the effect of a potential development program for village health volunteers caring for the homebound and bedridden elders. The sample group consisted of 38 village health volunteers from the Mueangphotawat Community Health Center, Mueang District, Surat Thani Province, selected using the purposive sampling method. The research instruments are a potential development program for village health volunteer’s caring for the home bound and bedridden elders, which takes 6 weeks, an assessment form about caring for the elderly who are bedridden, and a 6-skill assessment form. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics                       and inferential statistics to compare the differences before and after the experiment using the paired t-test.

                 The research results found that after this program, the sample group had significantly increased knowledge and skills in all 6 skills (p = 0.000*). In summary, the program for village health volunteers caring for the homebound and bedridden elders resulted in village health volunteers having more knowledge and skills, which can be applied to care for the elderly under their responsibility, resulting in the elderly having a better quality of life in the future.