Factors Predicting Common Household Drugs Safe Use Behavior among Village Health Volunteers, Tha Chang District, Singburi Province

Abstract

         This study was aimed to study common household drugs safe use behavior among village health volunteers (VHVs), and to study the predictive factors affecting common household drug safe use behavior among VHVs. The sample consisted of 129 VHVs of Tha Chang District, which using simple random sampling. The instrument consisted of general characteristics, common household drugs knowledge, medication health literacy, motivation toward hazard prevention from common household drugs use, and common household drugs safe use behavior. Data analyze was used descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis with STEPWISE method. 
          The findings revealed that:                  1) common household drugs knowledge, accessing health literacy, and common household drugs safe use behavior were at medium level. Understanding, analyzing, applicating health literacy, perceived severity from drugs use and inappropriate management, and perceived benefit from appropriate use or manage common household drugs were at the high level and  2) Four independent variables, such as accessing health literacy, common household drugs knowledge, applicating health literacy, and perceived severity from drugs use and inappropriate management, could explained approximately 43% of the variance for common household drugs safe use behavior, with statistically significance at 0.05. Moreover, accessing health literacy is the highest effect ( =.464), follow by common household drugs knowledge ( =.327), applicating health literacy ( = .226), and perceived severity from drugs use and inappropriate management  ( = .196). The implication of this study should to use these factors to develop intervention and create manual guideline in developing VHVs.