Factors Related to Family Health Behavior in Samosir District: A Mix-Methods Study

BACKGROUND: Non-communicable and communicable diseases remain a problem in Indonesia, where both are closely related to unhealthy behavior. Family health behavior affects the health status of the family and community.

AIM: The study aims to examine the factors related to family health behavior in the Samosir district.

METHODS: This study used a mixed-method approach with an explanatory sequential design. The respondents were 187 families who were selected through multi-stage random sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted with six informants: Samosir Health Department staff, Community Health Center staff, and religious or community leaders. The study was conducted in ten villages across three sub-districts. The instrument passed the validity and reliability tests and met triangulation. The Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia has approved ethical clearance. Univariate and multivariate analysis with logistic regression (CI 95%) were used for quantitative data, while content analysis was used for qualitative data.

RESULTS: In Samosir District, family health behavior (consisting of eating vegetables and fruits, not smoking at home, washing hands with soap and water, and using clean water) was low (12.8 %). Attitudes, income, and the availability and affordability of health care facilities all have a significant correlation with family health behavior, according to multivariate analysis. In content analysis, attitudes, economy, community characteristics, infrastructure, and access were discovered to be related to family health behavior.

CONCLUSIONS: Health promotion strategies such as health education, community empowerment, and cross-sectoral collaboration must be thoroughly implemented to address the factors related to family health behavior because they can increase family health behavior through family empowerment.