Strengthening Literacy and Health Resilience of The Indonesian Diaspora in Nonthaburi, Thailand in The Prevention and Early Detection of Diabetes Mellitus Complications Based on Community First Responders

Abstract

The Indonesian diaspora in Nonthaburi, Thailand faces significant health vulnerabilities, particularly related to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), exacerbated by limited access to formal healthcare services and low health literacy. This community empowerment program aims to strengthen health literacy and community resilience in the prevention and early detection of diabetes mellitus complications through a Community First Responder (CFR)-based approach. The program is implemented over eight months involving 30 participants from the Indonesian diaspora community, coordinated by the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok. Interventions include health education, blood sugar screening, CFR training, and the establishment of community health volunteers. Blood glucose screening results showed that 33.3% of participants had glucose levels above normal: 36.7% in the pre-diabetes category and 30% indicated diabetes. Knowledge evaluation using the validated Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ-24) showed a significant increase in the average score from 46.9 (pre-test) to 93.9 (post-test), representing an increase of 100.21%, with all participants (100%) showing score improvement. Community health volunteers were successfully formed as sustainable agents for ongoing health promotion within the diaspora network. These findings indicate that participatory CFR-based interventions are effective in improving knowledge about diabetes and enable early detection among the Indonesian diaspora in Thailand. This program can serve as a replicable model for community health empowerment of the Indonesian diaspora in other countries with similar characteristics.