Motivation of village health center head toward health program management in Khon Kaen province (Thai)

Abstract

This cross sectional descriptive study was aimed at the motivation of chiefs at Health Centers in Khon Kaen Province to manage health programs. From the total number of 248 eligible heads of Health Centers in Khon Kaen Province, 190 were selected by systematic random sampling using Cohen’s formula. Questionnaires and in-depth interview guidelines were applied. The reliability of the questionnaire was found to be 0.95 (Cronbach’s α co-efficient). Quantitative data from 190 participants were collected by questionnaire, and 10 staff who were the key informants were selected. They were interviewed in-depth from 1 December 2009 to 15 January 2010. Quantitative data were analyzed by a computer program and statistically analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and Stepwise Multiple Regression.

Demographic characteristics were not significantly correlated to the motivation to manage a health program. The motivation factor was significantly correlated to managing a health program by the head at Health Centers in Khon Kaen Province at the 0.01 level (r = 0.666, p-value < 0.001). A number of variables significant at p<0.05 predicted the motivation to manage a health program. These were responsibility of the staff in the health centers, working status of hygiene, the motivation to achieve a good result and the willingness to act on initiatives, policy and issues of the administrative system, Also of importance was the working environment. The variation of the score by which ‘motivation’ was measured was determined to be 61.1% by the above mentioned variables.