School Health Programs in Upper Secondary Schools, Thailand.

Abstract

The primary purpose of the study was to measure health knowledge of Mathayom six (grade twelve) students and the current health practices in public secondary schools in Thailand regarding the three components of school health programs, namely health services, healthful environment and health instruction. A combination of serpentine geographical ordering, stratification and systematic random sampling was used to select ten percent of the 604 secondary schools of the country. Sixty health education teachers responded to a questionnaire, 60 chairpersons of health and physical education were interviewed, and 2,040 students took a health knowledge test. Results of the study showed that the mean score of the students met the national standard of 50% for a passing mark, however, they were weak in the areas of population education and the health care system. They were strong in the areas of personal health, safety education, first aid, mental health, drug use and abuse, communicable and noncommunicable diseases, and environmental health. There were no significant differences between the mean scores of male and female students on the test. Urban students achieved significantly higher scores than rural students. Students who were taught by teachers who majored in health education achieved significantly higher scores than those who were taught by teachers with only a minor in health education. The latter in turn achieved significantly higher scores than those who were taught by teachers without any health education training. The current practices of the schools regarding the three components of school health services were significantly related to teachers' qualifications and school location. The students' health knowledge scores were significantly related to a combination of the following predictors: teachers' qualifications, school location, school health services, healthful school environment, health instruction and students' sex. Among these, the teachers' qualifications was the most important predictor of students' health knowledge. About twenty percent of the variance in the students' scores could be explained by all predictors in this study model.