Substance Abuse among Migrant Workers of Thai-Laos Border, Thailand
Siriluk Jaichuang MNS*, Amornrat Ratanasiri PhD*, Manop Kanato PhD*
Affiliation : * Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Objective : Study the impact of substance abuse among migrant workers along the Thai-Laos border region in Nakhon Phanom
Province.
Material and Method: The target population included migrant workers aged 15 years and over and were selected using
the snowball technique. Data were collected from 300 migrant workers and in-depth interviews and focus group discussion
were carried out. Data analysis used content analysis, descriptive statistics, and multivariate logistic regression.
Results : Fifty-five point seven percent of migrant workers used stimulants namely tobacco, energy drinks, coffee, and
methamphetamine. Males were at greater risk for substance abuse than females (AOR 16.03; 95% CI 8.43-30.45) and those
who received news and information from community radios and news broadcasting towers were at more risk than other
media (AOR 5.38; 95% CI 2.88-10.05). The impact of substance abuse were found to be chronic cough, moodiness, lack of
interest in food, headache, wakefulness, sleeplessness, tremor, heart palpitation, and accidents.
Conclusion : Health promotion strategy must be implemented to minimize the harm. Motivating behavioral modification
while keeping in mind the lifestyle, work, and environment of these people could help.
Keywords : Impact, Substance abuse, Migrant workers
