Development of a Model for Psychological Strengthening of Children Affected by Horrific Incidents in the Southern Border Province, Khok Pho District, Pattani Province

Abstract

The unrest situation in the southern border provinces is a shocking incident creating nightmares and
behavior changes which needed to be taken care, particularly among children, in order to romotes mental
strength to erase the wounds in the heart and grow into a quality adult. The purposes of this research
were to study the situation and develop a model that could be effective in psychological strengthening of
children affected by the traumatic incidents in the southern border province. There were 3 steps in the
process: (1) study the situation, problems and needs, which was conducted among 14 people purposively
selected to participate in a group discussion; (2) develop a model for psychological strengthening of
affected children by using the results of the research in the step 1 and reviewing the draft literature into a
format through the examination of 3 experts; and (3) study the effectiveness of psychological strengthening
models among 27 samples using a single-group before-and-after trial with the application of Wilcoxon
signed rank test statistics. It was found that most of the affected children were males (64.29%), with
the age of 6-10 years old (64.29%), and all of whom were Muslims. All of them experienced unrest
from the explosion in front of the school. Such incident had an impact on the mind which was expressed
through fear, regressive behavior, nocturnal enuresis, easily irritable, panick unwilling to depart with
parents, and lack of concentration. As an outcome of this study, the LOVE model was proposed which
consisted of L: Leader & Multidisciplinary team, O: Observation, V: Valuable, and E: Emotion. After
using the model, the undesirable symptoms were significantly reduced (Mean=12.96, SD=2.67)
compared to the level before the application of the model (M=22.81, SD=3.15), (p<0.05).