Health & Social Services Awareness & Availment

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In the same manner, “the state shall promote a just and dynamic social order the will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through the policies that provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all”. (Art. II Sec. 9).

In pursuance of these objectives, the Health and Social Services were among those given top priorities in the appropriation, passage and approval of our national budget by the Philippine Government. Coming in the 5th and 6th place, respectively, in the Approved National Budget for the current year, the Health sector have been allocated with the funding of P108.2 billion, up to 19.2% from 2014, while the social welfare and Development received P103.8 billion funding up to 24.6% from 2014.

With full democratic guarantees, adequate and stable funding, specific policies and programs carried out by the concerned governmental agencies through the local government units, and a firm commitment from the present administration to continue threading the path of the “tuwidnadaan”, is there really a way if these privileges are actually enjoyed by every household in the entire country?

To answer the question, one must rely not only on the news given by every media outlet or on words uttered by numerous officials. In a quest for objectivity, information must come directly from the people to whom the services are supposed to be given. The People are the direct beneficiaries of the said services and their perception and experience are inputs for further improvement.

Thus, this study focused only on identifying the level of consciousness of the particular households on matters to the health and social welfare services provided by their Barangay (LGU). And to determine the extent of that knowledge, this paper will likewise show how these families exercised or enjoyed the benefits of these privileges.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This Study aims to determine the relationships of the Awareness with Availment of Health and Social Welfare Services by the households in the Barangay Liboton, Naga City, for the 1st Quarter of the year 2015.

Further, this study seeks to answer the following specific questions:

- What is the degree of awareness on Health and Social Welfare Services of households in the Barangay?

- What is the degree of availment on Health and Social Welfare Services of households in the Barangay?

- Is there a significant relationship between awareness and availment of Health and Social Welfare Services in the Barangay?

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

The target research setting is the Barangay Liboton in Naga City, with a household population of 672, and the sample respondents will be 100 households. This study limits its coverage on families that are earning below the average income and that are dependent on the health and social welfare services provided by the barangay LGU. Health and Social Welfare Services refers to the public medical care, while Social Welfare Services refers to the Government services provided for the benefit of the community, such as education, medical care, housing and other activities aiming to promote the welfare of others.

The main purpose of this study is to identify the degree of awareness and availment of health and social welfare services in the barangay and determine the relationship between the two during the last two quarters of the year of 2015(January to June). Further, this study considers every aspects of the household’s personal information that are associated with their degree of awareness and availment of the services, such as the family’s educational background, the parent’s income, their gender, age and home location, among others. Each of the respondents were given the same questionnaire to answer.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The study aims to know the awareness and availment of the households of the barangay. It is the obligation and responsibility of the barangay officials to disseminate to their constituents the necessary services in order to fulfill their duties as a public servant.

Awareness

Objective Self-Awareness theory (Duval; Wicklund, 1972) is concerned with the self-reflexive quality of the consciousness. Just people can apprehend the existence of environmental stimuli, they can be aware of their own existence. When attention is directed inward and the individual’s consciousness—hence ‘objective’ self-awareness (Duval & Wick Lund, 1972. Meant consciousness of one’s existence on an organismic level, in which such existence is undifferentiated as a separate and distinct object in the world. The OSA theory has stimulated a lot of research and informed basic issues in a social psychology, such as emotion (SCHEIER & CARVER, 1977). Duval and Wick Lund defined what awareness of every individuals is. It involves their self-consciousness in environment in everything that exist. This is the process when the human being is aware if the things are happening in his environment.

People often misinterpret the actions made by their barangay officials leading to a poor impression of the constituents towards them. Relationship awareness theory (Elias H. Porter, Ph.D.) is a self-learning model for effectively and accurately understanding organizations and individuals, the awareness and skills they need to build more effective personal and professional relationships. It helps them to sustain those relationships through understanding the underlying motivations of themselves and other under two conditions, when thing are going well and during conflict. It is very important to recognize the actions of barangay officials not only in times of fiestas or other happy events, but also during struggles or calamities and other circumstances.

According to McLeod (2002), Individual’s perceptions varies on their level of awareness. This can be assumed that people perceives an idea in a manner in which he is familiar with. This shall bring the reinforcements theory in which it generally states that people seek out and remember information that provides cognitive support for their pre-existing attitudes and beliefs. The main assumption that guides this theory is that people do not like to be wrong and often feel uncomfortable when their beliefs are challenged.

Along availmentin economics, the law on marginal utility of a good service (Rittenberg