Objective: To assess the core competencies to prevent and control chronic diseases of the head of Tambol Health Centers (THC) in Thailand.
Material and Method: This cross-sectional survey research was carried out with 2,049 heads of THC from the total population of 9,985. The samples were selected randomly from all provinces of every region. The data were collected through mail questionnaires and the reliability values of the three competency domains questionnaire were found to be between 0.75-0.93. Data analysis was done by computing frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, Independent’s t-test and One-way ANOVA.
Results: The total core competency values of prevention and control of diabetes and hypertension of the THC heads were found at the high and moderate level (3.0% and 78.7%) respectively. The similar finding was found in the competency domains in regard to “personal attribution”, “intellectual capacity” while 8.0 percent and 46.2 percent of the respondents had the high and moderate level of “work skill” domain respectively. In addition, the differences of competency domains were found in accordance with the regions where the THC located, ability to develop a plan for disease prevention and readiness for changing behaviors of the risk groups. But the personal attributions with regard to gender, age, family’s economic status, and the location of the THC were not found to affect every competency domain. Except for the intellectual capacity domain found that the male THC heads had the higher level than the females and work skill domain of those THC heads working in the municipal areas had the higher level than those who worked outside the municipal areas.
Conclusion: Core competencies of the heads of THC in chronic disease prevention and control were found at the “somewhat good” level except for the work skill domain which needed to be developed. Thus, the Ministry of Public Health should establish a specific policy and strategy on human resource development by using core competencies on chronic disease prevention and control as the core performance indicators.

Keywords: Core competencies, Chronic disease, Tambol Health Center (THC)