The main objectives of this quasi-experimental research were to first, assess the effectiveness of a Health Education Programme aimed at promoting preventive behavior against intestinal parasitic infestation and second, examine the factors among housewives concerned with the infestation. The study was made in the Suan Aoy community, Khlong Toei district, Bangkok. The Rogers' Protection Motivation Theory by Group Process was applied to the implementation of the Health Education Programme. The outcomes assessed in this study are the women's knowledge of intestinal parasites, their perceptions of severity and susceptibility, self-efficacy and responsiveness efficacy, and their intention to develop and practise preventive behavior against intestinal parasitic infestation. Eighty housewives living in three communities were recruited. The experimental group comprised forty women from Suan Aoy community and another group of forty women from the Suan Thri and Rim Khlong Wat Sa Pan communities were assigned as the control group. The experimental group participated in the designated programme activities for 12 weeks. Data were collected by questionnaires before and after the intervention programme. Data analysis were made using percentage, mean, standard deviation, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and Pearson's product moment correlation.
The results were compared with the situations before and after the experiment as well as with the control groups. The results indicate that the experimental group had significantly increased its knowledge of intestinal parasites, perceptions of severity and susceptibility and they intended to practise preventive behavior against intestinal parasitic infestation(p < 0.01). However, the increase of self-efficacy, responsiveness efficacy and the practice of preventive behaviors were not significant. It was also found that knowledge of intestinal parasites, perception of severity and susceptibility, self-efficacy, and responsiveness efficacy were significantly correlated with the intention to practise preventive behavior(p < 0.001). In addition, the intention to practise preventive behavior was also significantly correlated with the preventive behavior against intestinal parasitic infestation (p < 0.001).
The results of this study suggested that the Health Education Programme used in the study was likely to be an effective means to improve community knowledge of intestinal parasites and the prevention of diseases. This study could therefore have an impact on the development of appropriate preventive behavior programmes to reduce intestinal parasitic infestation among housewives. It is recommended that this Health Education Programme should be applied to other similar community groups.