Health Education Modalities and Influencing Factors in Rural Philippine Communities: A Mixed-Methods Study

TL;DR

This study explores how rural adults in the Philippines prefer health education through community events and local materials over social media due to cultural and access factors.

Contribution

The study identifies community health fairs and native-language tools as preferred health education sources in rural Philippine communities.

Findings

Community health fairs were rated as the most important health education source with a mean rating of 8.5 ± 1.6.

Native-language educational materials were preferred over social media, which had the lowest mean rating of 3.5 ± 2.3.

Four themes influencing preferences were identified: accessibility, cultural relevance, confidence in local providers, and digital access barriers.

Abstract

Background: Health education is a vital component of preventative care; however, rural Filipino adults often face structural, linguistic, and access barriers to obtaining reliable health information. Designing equitable and culturally relevant health education programs requires understanding which sources are most significant and how context affects them. Objective: To identify preferred sources of health education among adults in rural Philippine communities and investigate the contextual factors that influence these preferences. Methods: A cross-sectional mixed-methods study included 1203 adults from disadvantaged Luzon and Visayas barangays. Participants completed a self-administered survey on the importance of neighborhood health fairs, native-language instructional tools, and social media. Descriptive statistics (mean ± standard deviation) were used to aggregate importance ratings, and exploratory comparisons were made using paired and independent-samples t-tests. A subsample of 60 semi-structured interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis to interpret qualitative data. Results: Community health fairs were identified as the primary source of health education, with a mean rating of 8.5 ± 1.6, followed by native-language educational materials, which received a mean rating of 5.5 ± 2.4. In contrast, social media was rated the lowest, with a mean of 3.5 ± 2.3. Preference patterns were consistent across regions and sociodemographic groups, with only slight variation in rating magnitudes. Qualitative analysis revealed four themes influencing source preferences: accessibility and proximity, cultural and linguistic relevance, confidence in local health providers, and structural obstacles to digital access. Conclusions: In rural Philippine communities, intimacy, confidence, and cultural congruence influence health education preferences more than online platforms do. Strengthening community-based, locally integrated health education strategies may enhance the reach and contextual relevance of preventive health communication in underserved settings.