Development of Guidelines for Identifying Drug Users through Community Participation in Chuen Chom District, Maha Sarakham Province

Abstract

Abstract

            This action research aimed to: 1) develop community-based participatory guidelines for identifying drug users in Chuen Chom District, Maha Sarakham Province, and 2) evaluate the effectiveness of the developed guidelines. The participants consisted of 84 community network members in Chuen Chom District, Maha Sarakham Province, selected through purposive sampling. Research instruments included a demographic questionnaire, practice and participation assessment scales, and a focus group discussion guide. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired t-test, with the significance level set at 0.05.

            The results revealed that the developed guidelines consisted of five key components: situation awareness building, capacity development of community networks, promotion of community participation, proactive household-based drug user identification, and systematic drug user database management. Following implementation, the mean practice score significantly increased from 39.2 ± 8.5 to 60.8 ± 7.9 (t = 28.60, p < 0.001), while the mean participation score significantly increased from 17.1 ± 4.2 to 27.6 ± 3.8
(t = 22.40, p < 0.001). In addition, the number of identified drug users increased from 138 to 265 individuals.

            In conclusion, the community-based participatory guidelines effectively enhanced the practice and participation levels of community network members and improved the effectiveness of drug user identification in the community.

Keywords : community participation, drug users, identification, action research