Socio-Economic and Health Indicators’ Relation to Self-Assessed Health: A Case Study of Phai Tha Pho, Phichit Province, Thailand

Abstract

Background: Self-assessed health (SAH) is used as a common method of sociology research to understand the implications of self-reported health and the link to social factors like education, income, and occupation. The paper explores the impact of socio-economic and health indicators on self-assessed health in the middle-aged to the senior population in a rural community in Thailand. Methods: Primary data were collected after conducting a randomized sampling for 100 people using direct interviews in two locations within the sub-district of Phai Tha Pho, Thailand. The target demographic was the middle-age to elderly population. A logit model was applied to the collected samples. Results: The study highlights that higher education, income, and sleep are high predictors for positive SAH while high blood sugar level has significant adverse effects on SAH. Detection of metabolic syndrome further indicates degraded overall health perception over time. Conclusion: The study demonstrated the relationship between socio-economic indicators and illnesses alongside individual SAH in rural Thailand. Accordingly, policies have been proposed that include targeted subsidies for healthy food alternatives, promoting work-rest balance at all levels, and an expansion of sub-district education up to secondary school. SAH can be performed regularly and expanded across communities including areas of low-income living due to its low implementation costs. It could also be used as a tool to support the government’s public health initiatives complementing the existing five-year direct health check-up programme. A comparative study of SAH across regions is recommended for future research.