The Core Competency of Personnel under the Ministry of Public Health: A Case Study of the Public Health Technical Officer in the Health Service Network 8

Abstract

Abstract

This study purposively explored the public health officer’s perception toward their core competencies at the Health Service Network 8 under the Ministry Public Health. The participants consisted of 334 public health officers who were different in gender, age, educational background, position, and work experience. The participants were selected by accidental sampling and the size estimation was based on the Krejcie & Morgan’s Table. The data was collected from the rating-scale checklist and open-ended questionnaire and the data was analyzed by several statistical values: the percentage, mean, standard deviation, and frequency, that were finally discussed descriptively. The results were found as follows: 1. The total score of the public health officer’s core competencies and the 5 high rated items of the core competencies were integrity, teamwork, service mind, expertise, and achievement motivation,respectively. 2. From a comparative study, the participants with different gender had similar perception toward their core competency; meanwhile, those with different age, educational background, position, and work experience differently perceived the core competency and the result was statistically significant (.05). 3. Regarding the core competency, the participants suggested that: in term of Achievement Motivation: training programs should be provided for personal performance improvement; Service Mind: training program on impressive service skills should be offered; Expertise: the public health officers should
constantly keep up with the advanced information and communication technology; Integrity: the public health officers should treat the service users with sincerity, equality, accuracy, and transparency; and Teamwork: more activities should be provided to strengthen the unity amongst the public health officers. Keywords: Core Competencies, Ministry of Public Health, Public Health Officers