Knowledge and perceived skills for health management after a flood among village health volunteers in southern Thailand

抄録

Aim: This study aimed to identify the level of knowledge and perceived skills regarding health-related flood management among 380 village health volunteers (VHVs) living in flood-affected areas in southern Thailand.

Methods: The self-report of Knowledge and Perceived Skill Questionnaires, which was developed based on the risk-reduction planning process of the Community-Based Disaster Risk Management framework, were provided by the VHVs. These two questionnaires were validated and tested for reliability, yielding a correlation coefficient of 0.70 for the Knowledge Questionnaire and 0.96 for the Perceived Skills Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics.

Results: The VHVs had a high level of knowledge and a moderate level of perceived skills regarding health-related flood management. Moreover, the area that the VHVs had the highest of both knowledge and skills was related to performing first aid for Athlete’s foot care, whereas the area of the least knowledge was on assessing dwellers’ perception of disaster preparedness, and the lowest skills was in the area of administering first aid for a bone fracture.

Conclusion: These findings can be used as basic information for conducting appropriate disaster management programs to promote VHVs' knowledge and enhance skills, especially health risk management and training in a disaster management plan.