A Health Literacy Enhancement Model for Students in Chiang Rai Municipality Schools Towards a Healthy City

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: 1) to examine the goodness-of-fit of a causal relationship model influencing students' health literacy against empirical data, and 2) to develop and evaluate a health literacy enhancement model for students in Chiang Rai Municipality schools. The Population of this study consisted of 2,422 lower secondary school students enrolled in schools under Chiang Rai Municipality. The research instruments included questionnaires and evaluation forms. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings revealed that:
1. The proposed causal relationship model demonstrated a high degree of congruence with the empirical data ( = 411.882, df = 207, /df = 1.989, TLI = 0.986, CFI = 0.988, GFI = 0.987, NFI = 0.977, RMSEA = 0.037, SRMR = 0.031). Social and Family Support (SFS), Analytical Thinking and Communication Skills (ATC), Focus on Educational Environment (FEE), and Experience in Using Technology (EUT) collectively accounted for 65.7% of the variance in Health Literacy (HL).
2. The developed model, titled the "SAFE Health Literacy Model," comprises six key components: objectives, developmental content, activities, duration, media/equipment, and evaluation.
3. The model evaluation based on the four international standards (accuracy, feasibility, propriety, and utility) was at a high level. Furthermore, students' health literacy scores after participating in the activities were significantly higher than those before the intervention at the .05 level.