Assessment of Competency for Health Communication with the Elderly Among Public Health Volunteers in Pathum Thani Province

Abstract

     This research aimed to 1) study the need to develop health communication competencies and 2) assess the competency of health communication with the elderly of public health volunteers, Pathum Thani Province. The research tools included interview forms and questionnaires. The sample in the research consisted of 32 public health volunteers obtained by a purposive sampling method.

     The results showed that the health communication competency of the participants in terms of communication process knowledge had an average of 4.08, communication skills had an average of 4.31, communication motivation had an average of 3.47, self-awareness had an average of 4.60, health communication success among the elderly had an average of 3.71, and community performance standards had an average of 4.27. Results from the survey on the needs to improve health communication competencies among the elderly showed that the participants had the highest desire to develop their self-awareness potential (62.50%), followed by communication process knowledge development (53.12%), communication motivation (40.62%) and communication skills (18.75%). The results can be used to model the development of health communication competencies among the elderly to meet the needs of each sub-district in the future.