พฤติกรรมสุขภาพและคุณภาพชีวิตของกลุ่มคนทำงานในนิคมอุตสาหกรรมภาคเหนือลำพูน

Abstract

Workers in industrial estates typically spend the majority of their time at work, often working in shifts. It has been observed that industrial workers generally work between 8 to 12 hours per day and face time constraints that may lead to unhealthy behaviors and health risks, both from work conditions and personal habits. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the health behaviors and quality of life among workers in an industrial estate in Lamphun Province, Northern Thailand. Data was collected using a questionnaire from 438 workers in the industrial estate, with a multi-stage sampling method. The study tools included four parts: 1) a personal information questionnaire, 2) a health behavior questionnaire from the Department of Health Service Support, 3) a quality of life questionnaire from the Department of Mental Health, and 4) a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for direct health assessment. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The results revealed that the overall average health behavior of the sample was at a moderate level, with 75.1%. When examining specific aspects, smoking behavior was rated good at 57.5%, while health behavior in the moderate range included food consumption at 62.8%, stress management at 47.9%. Health behaviors rated poorly included exercise at 78.5% and alcohol consumption at 42.0%. The overall quality of life of the sample was rated good at 53.9%. Specifically, the quality of life was good in the psychological domain at 61.9%, moderate in the environmental domain at 58.2%, physical domain at 51.1%, and social relationships at 49.3%. Statistical testing revealed that health behaviors such as exercise, stress management, smoking, and alcohol consumption had a significant positive correlation with the quality of life of workers in the Lamphun industrial estate at a significance level of 0.01. Additionally, exercise had a significant negative correlation with the quality of life at a significance level of 0.05. Workers in the Northern Region Industrial Estate Lamphun have moderate health behaviors. Therefore, it is necessary to promote knowledge and skills in self-care to encourage appropriate changes in health behaviors, which may improve the quality of life for this group.

Keywords: Health behavior, Quality of life, Industrial estate