MULTIGROUP CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP MODEL OF HEALTH LITERACY AND BEHAVIOR ON FAMILY WELL-BEING AMONG THAI ADULTS AT RISK OF NCDS

Abstract

: The 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion, 2016 focused on health risks and wellbeing for sustainable development. Study design: Multi-group structural equation model study aims to develop a causal model of family well-being by mediating health literacy (HL) and to compare models between spouses in men and women and in urban and rural communities Methods: The samples included 2,000 spouses at risk of NCDs by stratified random sampling. Data were collected by Likert questionnaires with reliability of 0.79-0.93, using to analyze via CFA, and Multi-group SEM Results: A causal model of social norm and psychology capital affected to health behavior and family well-being by mediating HL in overall group was consistent with an empirical data. Causal factors had direct effects on health behavior including social norm, positive attitudes, psychology capital, and HL (β=0.11, 0.14, 0.30, and 0.41, *p < 0.05 respectively), Health behavior, and positive attitudes toward health had direct effects on family well-being (β= 0.36. and 0.42, *p < 0.05 respectively). All factors could predict health behavior, and family well-being of variance 70% and 50%, and invariance analysis of causal models were found that no difference between spouses in men and women. In addition, mean comparison of latent variables showed that the positive attitudes toward health in women was lower than men. Also, HL and positive attitudes toward health of spouses in urban were lower in rural communities. Conclusions: Health providers should improve the first priority of HL and positive attitude among Thai adult families in urban communities.