Model Development for Health Promotion in the Elderly Participating in Communities

Problem statement: The problem of the research derives from a lack of research study to develop the suitable model for health promotion in the elderly and examine factors concerning the health promotion in the elderly. This research aime d to study and develop suitable health promotion model for elderly participating in communities and examine factors related to the health promotion of the elderly. Approach: The samples were 654 older people. This study was participatory action research including many stages which were situation analysis, action and assessment. The explored location was the area of Nonsa-ad Sub-District, Non g Ruea District, Khon Kaen Province. Results: The results of the study led to the process of heal th promotion for the elderly participating in the communities in the action stage including the parti cipation of the communities, local administrative organizations and government agencies consisting of health service centers and department of social development and human security to drive the thinkin g of the elderly and push it into real practice. Th e activities for the health promotion were health che ck-up, home visit of volunteers and public health staff, exercise, having suitable food, stress manag ement, adequate sleep, not to drink alcohol, not to take steroid medicine, not to have betel nut, not t o smoke, avoid accident and not to work hard. After 1 year of these activities, the health condition of t he aged people was better while several health problems decreased such as the rate of sickness, ri sk group of chronic diseases, join and muscular pai n. Besides, diabetes and blood pressure were at the sa me level. The patients with diabetes and blood pressure were able to better control glucose level and blood pressure at the safe rate without any complications. The whole quality of life of the eld erly on physical and mental health, daily routine, society and finance were also better at 63.15%. Fur thermore, sex and age were significantly related to the health promotion for the elderly with p<0.0001 and p<0.012, respectively. However, religion, education and occupation were not significantly rel ated to the health promotion. Conclusion/Recommendations: The aged persons should pay attention to their hea lth first to learn appropriate treatment. Government organizations should take care of the budget continually to general people as well as the elderly to complete the targe t of the health promotion in contexts of community, tradition, beliefs, rituals and culture. These fact ors could help the aged persons live in the society and the environment properly to have strong physical an d mental health with their warm families.