KNOWLEDGE REGARDING AN ACCESS TO UNIVERSAL COVERAGE SCHEME AMONG THE ELDERLY IN AMPHOE MUANG RATCHABURI PROVINCE THAILAND

Abstract

Knowledge regarding an access to universal coverage scheme (UCS) among the elderly in Amphoe Muang, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand, was the cross-sectional study conducted during April – June 2015 in order to assess the level of knowledge regarding an access to universal coverage scheme. There were 440 respondents (178 males and 262 females) who were the elderly aged 60 years and over. Simple random sampling technique was used from all elderly with the universal coverage scheme. Face-to-face interview was used. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics of One-Way ANOVA were employed to find the association among the variables. The result indicated that the elderly were 60-92 years old with 61.8% in the age bracket of 60-69 years old. When assessed the level of knowledge, it was on the moderate and high levels (55.7%) with the average mean of 12.46. It was also found that occupation (p-value 0.020), highest level of education obtained (p-value 0.000), and numbers of household members (p-value 0.010) were statistically significant with the level of knowledge at the level of p value < 0.05. From Post-hoc test, the result illustrated that agriculture had higher level of knowledge than employees and business owners or traders; those with primary school education had higher level of knowledge than those with no education; the level of knowledge was not different among those with higher education than primary school (secondary school; vocational school; higher vocational school; bachelor’s degree). For the numbers of household member, the result revealed that those who stayed alone (one household member) had higher level of knowledge than those from large household (more than five household members). It was concluded that providing knowledge; increasing awareness of the UCS right; having mutual activities between the elderly and their care-takes; as well as having campaigns for health promotion regarding various UCS rights, will heighten the quality of the elderly’s life as Thailand is approaching aging society, to become age-friendliness, and to improve the efficiency of the UCS As for future studies, the qualitative and quantitative studies on the rights of UCS to cover other provinces and other regions were recommended.