KUMJ | VOL. 18 | NO. 4 | ISSUE 72 | OCT.-DEC. 2020

The Influence of Health Literacy, Social Capital and Health Status on Quality of Life of Laotian Migrant Workers in the Northeast of Thailand
Piyawatchwela S, Laohasiriwong W

Abstract:
Background Thailand has been a key destination country for labor migrants from Lao PDR due to its higher economic development level. Objective To determine the level of quality of life as well as influence of health literacy, social capital and health status on quality of life of Laotian migrant workers in the Northeast of Thailand. Method This cross sectional study was conducted among 1,477 Laotian migrant workers. The multistage random sampling method was applied to select the study respondents from eight provinces of the Northeast of Thailand. A structured questionnaire interview was applied to collect required information. A generalized linear mixed model was performed to identify the influence of health literacy, social capital and health status on quality of life of Laotian migrant workers in the Northeast of Thailand. Result Among the total of 1,477 Laotian migrant workers, 37.78% (95% CI: 35.30-40.31) of the respondents had good quality of life while 61.1% (95% CI: 58.59-63.63) had fair level of quality of life. Factors that were significantly associated with having good quality of life of Laotian migrant workers were; had high level of social capital (adj. OR=3.55;95% CI: 2.62-4.83), high level of health literacy on access to health information, communication skills, self-management, media literacy and decision making skills literacy (adj. OR= 2.33;95% CI: 1.69-3.23), high level of cognitive health literacy (adj.OR=1.77; 95% CI:1.28-2.45), low to moderate levels of stress (adj. OR=2.12;95% CI:1.49-3.02), not depressed (adj. OR=4.05;95% CI:1.96-8.41) and physically healthy (adj.OR=1.71;95% CI:1.12-2.62). Other significant covariates were socioeconomic status including family size, accommodation, financial status, and migration conditions. Conclusion More than one-third of Laotian migrant had good quality of life. Quality of life was better among those with high social capital, high level of health literacy, good mental and physical health status, better socioeconomic status, and proper migration conditions.
Keyword : Health literacy, Health status, Laotian migrant workers, Social capital, Quality of life