The digital competency of village health volunteers in providing proactive health services at Laplae district, Uttaradit province
Keywords:
Competency, Proactive health service, Digital technology accessAbstract
This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to examine the level of digital-era proactive health service competency among village health volunteers (VHVs) in Laplae District, Uttaradit Province, and to identify factors associated with, and predictive of such competency.
A total of 345 VHVs in Laplae District, Uttaradit Province, were selected as the study sample. Data were collected using a questionnaire developed based on the Spencer and Spencer competency framework. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank correlation, and multiple regression analysis.
The findings revealed that VHVs had an overall high level of competency in providing proactive health services in the digital era (Mean = 4.19, S.D. = 0.440). Considering each dimension, attitude had the highest mean score (Mean = 4.49, S.D. = 0.516), followed by motivation (Mean = 4.42, S.D. = 0.531), skills (Mean = 4.25, S.D. = 0.761), and personal characteristics (Mean = 4.23, S.D. = 0.639), all of which were at a high level. In contrast, digital literacy was at a moderate level (Mean = 3.58, S.D. = 0.634), reflecting a gap in health data security awareness. Four factors were found to be significantly correlated with competency in all aspects. Specifically, access to technology was positively correlated with competency (rs = 0.257, p-value < 0.01), followed by digital capacity development (rs = 0.223, p-value < 0.01) and digital use experience (rs = 0.144, p-value < 0.01). In contrast, age was negatively correlated with competency at a statistically significant level (rs = -0.173, p-value < 0.01).
Furthermore, predictive factor analysis showed that access to technology and digital capacity development jointly predicted 12.6% of the variance in competency for providing proactive health services in the digital era (R² = 0.126).
The findings suggest that public health agencies should promote access to technology alongside the development of digital skills among VHVs, particularly in the area of health data security. In addition, a continuous monitoring and evaluation system should be established to enhance proactive health service delivery in the community.
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