Effects of Psychological Distress Management Programme on Problem- Coping Ability of Adolescents Affected by Unrest in Southern Thailand
Keywords:
psychological distress management programme, problem-coping; adolescents, unrest in Southern ThailandAbstract
Objective: To examine the effects of a psychological distress management programme on the problem-coping ability of adolescents who were affected by the unrest in southern Thailand
Design: Two-group quasi-experimental research with a pre-test and a post-test
Methodology: This study was conducted on 50 purposively sampled participants,
students aged between 15 and 18 at two secondary schools in Narathiwat province. The participants were equally assigned to an experimental group and a control group. The experimental instrument was a psychological distress management programme, administered in four sessions. The data collection instruments consisted of a demographic recording form, the Psychological Impact
Scale for Crisis Event-10 (PISCES-10), and a coping ability assessment form. The data were analysed based on the frequency, percentage, and mean, whilst the chi-square was used to test the differences between the two groups. Paired t-test was employed to analyse both groups’ pre-test and post-test results, and independent t-test was used to compare the post-test results of the control and experimental groups.
Results: The experimental group’s post-intervention mean score on problem-coping ability was significantly higher than its pre-intervention score (p < .05). Also, after the intervention, the experimental group’s mean score on problem-coping ability was significantly higher than the control group’s (p < .05).
Recommendations: The psychological distress management programme could help adolescents to properly cope with situations inducing psychological distress. Therefore, community psychologists, educational counselors, and community public health personnel may apply this programme to assisting psychologically distressed adolescents to make proper situational adjustment and reduce psychological distress.
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