Leadership Development for Competency Improvement of District Health System Management among Affiliated Colleges of Praboromarajchanok Institute through Transformative Learning

Abstract

The objective of this action research was to develop the leadership capacity building of district health management system in the faculties from colleges under Praboromarajchanok Institute through transformative learning. The target samples were 39 colleges under the jurisdiction of Praboramarajchanok Institute, the Ministry of Public Health. The data were collected from October 2015 to December 2016 using surveys, observations, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document reviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired t-test and qualitative data were analyzed using content and thematic analyses according to the research objective.

The results were as follows: First, district health management learning for faculties of the colleges under the Praboromarajchanok Institute was a learning management process based on contexts that included contemplative learning, district health management learning within the context, and reflective and learn lessons. Second, after the learning process, the main competencies of district health management of the participants improved in all dimensions. The highest average score was ‘teamwork’ followed by ‘vision’. Additionally, average scores of the four shadow competencies also increased at a high level. It was found that the average mean score of main competencies and shadow competencies after training increased significantly when comparing to the scores before the training (P-value <0.001 and <0.01 respectively). When comparing the competency across dimensions, it was found that most of the mean scores increased significantly (P-value <0.001), except for the self-control dimension. Third, according to results from after the training, it was found that faculties from the colleges under Praboromarajchanok institutions could improve academic roles for learning coordinate centers and learning team to 82.05% and could expand their academic personnel up to 154 academic personnel (41%) under Praboromarajchanok institutions covering the needs of district health system in almost all health regions. There were 7 colleges that played the roles in learning management and could be a model for the development of the district health system such as reducing the use of chemicals in agriculture and developing the long-term care for elderly in the community. Finally, the study found that the integration of the projects with the mission of the college such as excellence center, learning and teaching, and academic service were needed.

The process of district health management learning was transformative learning process from academic institutions to the world's health care system that enabled the development of the competencies while inspired the participants.