A model of community capacity building for sustainable dengue problem solution in Southern Thailand

Dengue community capacity (DCC) is important for developing a sustainable approach to over-coming the problem of dengue. The objectives were 1) to develop and 2) evaluate a dengue community capacity building model for the leader and non-leader group in three communities selected by purposive technique. A mixed method research design was used employing both qualitative and quantitative methods with qualitative studies conducted for community capacity building model: assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. DCC level was assessed by the Dengue Community Capacity Assessment Tool (DCCAT) including larval indices, and morbidity and mortality rate. To analyze the differences of the leader and non-leader’s DCC levels both pre and post-interventions in each model, the Mann-Whitney and Independent T-test were used and to analyze the difference of the DCC level among the three models (Ban Mon, Ban Nangpraya and Ban Kang), the Kruskal-Wallis Test, ANOVA, and ANCOVA were used. The findings showed that there were some differences among the three models in dengue community capacity building in terms model. The participants consisted of leader (n = 26, 24 and 28) and non-leader groups (n = 200, 215 and 176 respectively). The DCC levels of both leader and non-leader groups increased post-intervention in each model (p < 0.001) and in all three models, showing a statistically significant difference between pre and post-intervention (p < 0.001). Ban Kang model demonstrated the highest DCC levels of leader and non-leader groups, the lowest larval indices (HI, BI, and CI), and no dengue morbidity. In contrast, Ban Mon and Ban Nangpraya model showed low DCC level in both leader and non-leader groups, a high rate of larval indices and high dengue morbidity rate. However, there was no mortality rate in three areas. The conclusion indicates that the model with a high DCC level showed low risk on the dengue index both entomological and epidemiology index. The model of dengue community capacity building for dengue solution was sustainability not only needs to be maintained DCC levels but also increased dependent upon the contexts of each community.