Online Media Uses and eHealth Literacy of Foreigner Workers in Thailand by Welfare

The number of foreign workers in Thailand rises annually in line with continual economic growth. Furthermore, increases in the number of foreign workers in Thailand also cause a wide range of problems concerning public health such as communicable disease or hygiene for living in each area. The government recognizes the aforementioned problems and has, therefore, attempted to control the situation by having as many foreign workers register in the health system as possible. Many foreign workers also perform self-care based on their capabilities. Thus, promoting health knowledge in foreign workers benefits the public health system as a whole. Methods for promoting health knowledge should use online media capable of accessing foreign worker groups conveniently without wasting government budgets. In the area of success factors for communication, as much understanding of online health media use behaviors among foreign workers as possible must be understood to enable successful communication.This study was aimed at studying the online media use behaviors and perceived e-health literacy among foreign workers divided into three groups based on government welfare use. Data were collected in August ? September 2016. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Most of the foreign workers were found to be males (54.2%) aged 20-30 years (52.5%) who had elementary levels of education (42%) and mean/monthly income within a range of 5,001 ? 10,000 baht (84.7%). The samples had moderate online media use behaviors such as using LINE (Mean = 2.70, SD = 1.552) and Facebook (Mean = 2.65, SD = 1.587). Other online media were used at low to lowest levels. Every health data content searched via online media were at low to lowest levels. Perceived e-health literacy of foreign workers was low for every item. Foreign workers who used different types of government welfare were found to have differences in online media use, search content and perceived e-health literacy with statistical significance at .05 for every item.The findings of this study can help academics develop online health media to suit the online media use behaviors of foreign workers as well as possible to benefit national public health in the future.