Factors affecting stress levels during COVID-19 pandemic among village health volunteers in rural areas, Thailand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62992/ijphap.v1i1.10Keywords:
Stress, Village health volunteers, Rural areas, COVID-19 pandemicAbstract
Background: Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) played vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic. They had to provide primary health care to people both with and without COVID-19.
Objectives: This study aimed to assess stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and factors affecting stress among VHVs in rural areas, in Thailand.
Method: A cross-sectional survey was employed in this study. A total of 204 samples were selected randomly with simple random sampling. They were village health volunteers who worked in rural areas (Phichit Province). The questionnaire consisted of five parts and was used to assess: (1) Personal factors (2) Work-related factors (3) Organizational factors (4) Health-related factors and (5) Stress levels developed by the Department of Mental Health (SPST- 20). Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis.
Results: Most of the respondents were female (74%), and the age of all respondents ranged from 47 to 58 years (37.7%). Nearly one-third (28.9%) were married. The majority of the respondents attained secondary school (76%) and were agriculturists (50.5%). Their annual income ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 baht ($1372.12 to $2744.24). Approximately two-third (63.2%) reported that they had been working as VHVs in the range of 5-15 years. Additionally, a high-stress level was reported with the highest proportion (41.16%). Regarding the multiple regression analysis, it was found that factors related to stress levels of the VHVs in rural areas were working condition (β = -1.649, p< 0.001), social support (β = 2.540, p< 0.001), psychological aspect (β = -4.233, p< 0.001), and physical aspect (β = 1.233, p< 0.001). These factors were utilized to predict 52.10% (R2 = 0.521, Adj. R2 = 0.512) of the stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic among the VHVs.
Conclusion: Factors affecting stress levels of the VHVs in the rural areas were working conditions, social support, psychological aspect, and physical aspect.
References
Nochaiwong, Surapon, et al. "Mental health circumstances among health care workers and general public under the pandemic situation of COVID-19 (HOME-COVID-19)." Medicine 99.26 (2020).
Sapbamrer, Ratana, et al. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Daily Lives, Agricultural Working Lives, and Mental Health of Farmers in Northern Thailand." Sustainability 14.3 (2022): 1189.
Chinvararak, Chotiman, et al. "Mental health among healthcare workers during
COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand." PloS one 17.5 (2022): e0268704.
Ruengorn, Chidchanok, et al. "Association of job loss, income loss, and financial burden with adverse mental health outcomes during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Thailand: A nationwide cross‐sectional study." Depression and Anxiety 38.6 (2021): 648-660.
Jiang, Na, et al. "Depression, anxiety, and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic: Comparison among higher education students in four countries in the Asia-Pacific Region." Journal of Population and Social Studies [JPSS] 29 (2021): 370-383.
Wang, Yunhe, et al. "The impact of quarantine on mental health status among general population in China during the COVID-19 pandemic." Molecular psychiatry 26.9 (2021): 4813-4822.
Finkelhor, David, Heather Turner, and Deirdre LaSelva. "Receipt of behavioral health services among us children and youth with adverse childhood experiences or mental health symptoms." JAMA network open 4.3 (2021): e211435-e211435.
Ramanathan, Renuka, and Reina Desrouleaux. "Focus: The Science of Stress: Introduction: The Science of Stress." The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 95.1 (2022): 1.
Crum, Alia J., Jeremy P. Jamieson, and Modupe Akinola. "Optimizing stress: An integrated intervention for regulating stress responses." Emotion 20.1 (2020): 120.
Almen, Niclas, et al. "Behavioral stress recovery management intervention for people with high levels of perceived stress: A randomized controlled trial." International Journal of Stress Management 27.2 (2020): 183.
AL van Tilburg, Miranda, et al. "High levels of stress due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic among parents of children with and without chronic conditions across the USA." Children 7.10 (2020): 193.
Stepowicz, Anna, et al. "Stress and anxiety levels in pregnant and post-partum women during the COVID-19 pandemic." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17.24 (2020): 9450.
Tejativaddhana, Phudit, et al. "The roles of village health volunteers: COVID-19 prevention and control in Thailand." Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management 15.3 (2020): 18-22.
Pongpirul, Krit. "Village health volunteers in thailand." National Community Health Programs: Descriptions from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Edited by Perry H. Washington. DC: USAID/Jhpiego/Maternal and Child Survival Program (2020): 395-404.
Rajatanavin, Nattadhanai, et al. "Responding to the COVID-19 second wave in Thailand by diversifying and adapting lessons from the first wave." BMJ global health 6.7 (2021): e006178.
Kitamura, Tomomi, et al. "Perspectives of health care workers and village health volunteers on community-based Integrated Management of Childhood Illness in Madagascar." Heliyon 6.11 (2020): e05326.
Daniel, Wayne W., and Chad L. Cross. Biostatistics: a foundation for analysis in the health sciences. Wiley, 2018.
Wuttaphan, Naphat. "Factors Influencing the Work Behavior of Village Health Volunteers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study." Journal of Population and Social Studies [JPSS] 30 (2022): 816-833.
Jiaviriyaboonya, Poonnatree. "Anthropological study of village health volunteers’(VHVs’) socio-political network in minimizing risk and managing the crisis during COVID-19." Heliyon 8.1 (2022): e08654.
Chen, Xi, Yuchun Zou, and Haiyan Gao. "Role of neighborhood social support in stress coping and psychological wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Hubei, China." Health & Place 69 (2021): 102532.
Sumpuntharat, Suparinya, Saengwan Tungsaengsakul, and Suriya Sumpuntharat. "Effect of experiential activities planning program on health literacy and 3E2S health behaviors among village health volunteers." Science, Engineering and Health Studies (2022): 22050002-22050002.
Taejarernwiriyakul, Ormjai, et al. "The Association between Health Behavior and Health Promotion Needs of Village Health Volunteers in Thailand." The Open Public Health Journal 15.1 (2022).
Sumpuntharat, Suparinya, Saengwan Tungsaengsakul, and Suriya Sumpuntharat. "Effect of experiential activities planning program on health literacy and 3E2S health behaviors among village health volunteers." Science, Engineering and Health Studies (2022): 22050002-22050002.
Downloads
Published
License
Copyright (c) 2022 International Journal of Public Health Asia Pacific
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
International Journal of Public Health Asia Pacific (IJPHAP) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 international (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, unless otherwise stated. Please read our Policies page for more information on Open Access, copyright, and permissions.
