Health status of household laborer in para-rubber plantations in Songkhla province

Abstract

     This research explored the health status (physical, mental, social, and spiritual) of household laborers in para-rubber plantations, as well as examining indicators of the health status of household laborers and investigating the socio-economic factors correlated with health status. Data were collected using structured interviews with 394 household laborers in para-rubber plantations, selected using multi-stage random sampling. The arithmetic mean and Pearson correlation coefficient were employed to analyze the data. Additional data were collected using in-depth interviews with 60 household laborers in para-rubber plantations, selected using purposive sampling. The results revealed that the household laborers in para-rubber plantations had high levels of social health and spiritual health. On the contrary, their physical health and mental health were at low levels. The indicators of physical health, mental health, social health and spiritual health were highly important. Statistically significant variables correlating the health status of household laborers in para-rubber plantations were: pararubber farm experience, knowledge of para-rubber production through extension visits, labor used for para-rubber production, and the status of the para-rubber farmer household. Suggestions for the development of the health status of household laborers in para-rubber plantations included enhancement of the performance of the household laborers in para-rubber plantations.