Correlates of Health Literacy among Farmers in Northern Thailand

Abstract

Low health literacy is a barrier to public health efforts worldwide. Agricultural workers have an elevated risk for lower health literacy, with important health implications because of their potential exposure to harmful chemicals. The Asian Health Literacy Survey (AHLS) has been developed and translated for use in several different Asian countries and is standardized for easy comparisons across regions. However, it has not been translated for use in Thailand. The purpose of this study was to (1) to determine the health literacy of rural Thai farmers in Northern Thailand, and (2) identify correlates of health literacy within this group. Internal consistency of the Thai AHLS translation was “excellent” (alpha = 0.92). Descriptive results showed that health literacy was relatively high (M = 34.98/50, SD = 6.87). Education, income, working as a village health volunteer, age, length of time farming, no chemical use in farming, health, and pesticide screening were statistically significant correlates of health literacy (R2 = 0.19). Thai farmers had higher health literacy than reported for several other Asian countries. Results may be used to inform the design of future health promotion programs.

Association Between Physical Activity and Type 2 Diabetes Using the International Physical Activity Questionnaires: A Case-Control Study at a Health Promoting Hospital in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

“… 20 Farmers in northern Thailand had been found to exhibit higher health literacy compared to those from several other Asian countries. 21 The current practice of diabetes care in the district and primary healthcare level of Thailand has been provided based on clinical practice guidelines and diabetes care guidelines at district health network level. 22 , 23 District hospitals serve to provide the care for diabetes cases while follow-up of the diabetes patients is served by the primary healthcare services at village level.…”

Staying in or out? COVID-19-induced healthcare utilization avoidance and associated socio-demographic factors in rural India

“…The disparities in the COVID-19-induced healthcare utilization avoidance among the various work or employment groups could be attributed to differences in health literacy, healthcare accessibility and affordability in rural India. For instance, the literature is replete with low health literacy among farmers and farming households [74,75] and low levels of healthcare utilization due to poverty [76][77][78]. The implications for policy, practice and research are therefore highlighted.…”

Agricultural pesticide regulatory environment for pollinator protection across geographical regions

“…Pesticide overuse during the last 20 years with unsafe pesticide practices led to adverse health and serious environmental consequences (Nguyen and Tran, 1999;Wilson, 2000;Briones and Felipe, 2013;Schreinemachers et al, 2017Schreinemachers et al, , 2020Schreinemachers, 2019). Increasing poison risks for pesticide handlers, their families, and consumers have been documented (Fernando, 1995;Balali-Mood et al, 2012;Gupta, 2012;Panuwet et al, 2012;Fiedler et al, 2015;Thetkathuek et al, 2017;Mohammad et al, 2018;Montgomery et al, 2020) and pesticide exposure was linked to various acute and chronic health issues, ranging from skin rashes to vomiting, even internal organ failures and cancer (Mohammad et al, 2018;PAN Asia Pacific, 2019;Hughes et al, 2021;Kangkhetkron and Juntarawijit, 2021). The significant adverse impacts of excessive agrochemical use include air, soil, and water pollution, and the killing of non-target organisms in the ecosystem (beneficial insects, birds, aquatic animals, etc.…”