Development of health care model for elderly people living alone in the area under the responsibility of Ban Na Sanuan Subdistrict Health Promotion Hospital, Buachet District, Surin Province.

Abstract

     Action research aimed to develop and evaluate the use of health care models for the elderly living alone in the area of ​​responsibility of Ban Na Sanuan Subdistrict Health Promoting Hospital, Buachet District, Surin Province, according to the concept of Kemmis and McTaggart. The purposive sampling group consisted of 2 groups: (1) a sample group for collecting qualitative data and developing a health care model for the elderly living alone, purposively selecting 12 people and (2) 55 elderly living alone to test the model. They participated in the research process at Ban Na Sanuan Subdistrict Health Promoting Hospital between August 2024 and March 2025. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from questionnaires and focus group discussions.
     The results of the study found that the health care model for the elderly living alone consisted of 5 activities: 1) Preparing communities by promoting knowledge and understanding about coping with the problems of elderly people living alone ; 2) Community participation in the health care of the elderly living alone; 3) Having peers as informal caregivers; 4) Support and assistance from various organizations; and 5) Promoting self-care according to life management methods and dependency on a case-by-case basis in terms of daily life. Physical health and mental health continuously. After the trial of the model, it was found that opinions on the behavior of self-care of the elderly and the practice of self-care behavior of the elderly, overall, had a statistically significant increase in the mean difference. As for anxiety and depression, the mean difference decreased significantly (p-value<0.05).