The primary health care workers (PHCWs) are health personnel, who work
very closely with communities. They function as one of the most important
mechanisms for the implementation of health promotion policy. In the meantime,
their own health status, including well-being and holistic health, also have
implications for the successful implementation of the policy. Therefore,
understanding the articulation between these two realities is very important
The objectives of this study are as follows: 1) To explore the definitions of
holistic health from the perspectives of the PHCWs. 2) To study the health status of
the PHCWs and its determinants by means of holistic health approach. 3) To analyze
the health status of the PHCWs in relation to its implication for health promotion
policy. The study mainly uses a qualitative approach by which content analysis is
adopted. Quantitative data, particularly health behaviors are supplemented in order to
come up with a larger picture of the health status of the PHCWs.
Qualitative Findings : It is found that many PHCWs suffer from mental stress,
which is mainly caused by diversified workloads and economic problems.
Furthermore, it is also due to the fact that they have to meet so many demands and
many indicators laid by the Ministry of Public Health. These are to be accomplished
regardless of whatever local problems, and also, complex local contexts are.
Moreover, almost all of them say that they lack opportunities and supporting systems
for the development of their own career paths. Fortunately, almost all of them are
proud of their significant roles in the communities, and that they would still like to
continue their career. On the people’s side, active health care movements are quite
clear and expanded rapidly. As for the quantitative findings, it is found that 63.0% of
the PHCWs encounter economic problems, which apparently cause mental stresses.
Also, 81.8% of them have rather high dependency ratio. In terms of health behaviors,
21.7% (mostly men) always and occasionally drink alcohol. However, some positive
results are as follows: 77.1% have sound relationships with their colleagues, 71.4%
always exercise and 79.8% evaluate their own health status as healthy.
Notably and unavoidably, the holistic health and health status of the PHCWs
has strong implications for the implementation of health promotion policy since a
large number of the PHCWs still encounter mental stresses. Therefore, reducing their
mental stresses through improving the health statuses and the career paths of the
PHCWs would probably be the first steps to lead towards better implementation of
health promotion policy in Thailand.
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