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The purpose of this study was to propose a guideline for developing a model to enhance competencies of public health professionals in local governments for preparedness and management of the flood disasters. Three stages were implemented as follows: Phase 1 was to analyze the current methods that are in place for flood disaster management. Phase 2 was surveying competencies of public health professionals in the local government for preparedness in preparation for developing the model. The sample composed of 189 public health professionals from local government organizations. They were recruited using purposive and stratified simple random sampling from local governments in all four regions of Thailand. In Phase 3 the model was evaluated to help further enhance competencies of public health professionals in local governments for preparedness and management of flood disasters. Data were collected by questionnaires, and results were confirmed by experts using the Delphi technique. The data were analyzed making use of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) technique, logistic regression, median, and inter-quartile range. The findings were as follows. At the start of the project, more than 80% of public health professionals in local governments had competencies for preparedness and management of flood disasters at either a moderate or a low level. It was found that educational institutions have a very low level of curriculum content related to disaster management. In analyzing competencies of public health professionals in local governments for preparedness and management of the flood disasters, there were six components, defined by 50 variables. The components were: (1) Competencies related to public health system management, care of the community and recovery/ rehabilitation; (2) Competencies related to coordination, communication and solving unexpected problems; (3) Competencies related to planning, preparing personnel, community and volunteers to be ready for responding to a disaster; (4) Competencies related to assessing the situation and to the identification of solutions in responding to the disaster; (5) Competencies related to disaster risk reduction management, ethical practice and legal practice and (6) health surveillance competencies. These components were defined by 12, 12, 8, 6, 7 and 5 items, respectively. In fact, factor loading for all components are higher than 0.5 except for the fifth and sixth components. Finally, the study found that work experiences in flood evacuation drills as well as rehabilitation are the main factors used for the prediction of overall performance (R2 0.555). The model for competencies development for public health professionals that was developed during this study has three interrelated delivery modalities, as follows: The first modality was self-study, in which public health professionals developed competencies by themselves. The second modality was if the local government played a role in developing a public health professional’s competencies. The third modality was if the public health professional’s competencies were developed by educational institutions. The methods for competencies development were short-course programs for drills or workshops, on-the-job training, seminars, assignment of tasks and exercises, job rotations, knowledge management, self-study, and observing activities. (IQR < 1.5) In conclusion, the study found that in order to increase the competencies and confidence in handling flood disasters by public health professionals, stronger cooperation between local government organizations, educational institutions and public health professionals is needed. This could lead to fewer negative impacts and better outcomes for the public in case a flood disaster strikes. |
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