A Synthesis of Community Capitals for Life Skills Development of Children and Youth Phu Tai Ethnic Group to Prevent Drug Abuse in the Northeastern Region of Thailand

Abstract

Drug abuse is destructive to children. Developing life skills for children and youth is, therefore, important. The objectives of this research were to investigate the current conditions and impacts of the drug problems on Phu Tai community, study Phu Tai children’s life skills, and synthesize the community capitals which were appropriate for the development of life skills among children. This study employed research mixed methods. The research area was a Phu Tai community in the northeastern region of Thailand. The key informants were 32 people including community leaders, nurses from the District Health Promotion Hospital, Subdistrict Administrative Organization staff, public health volunteers, local scholars, monks, policemen, guardians, teachers, and children. These informants were selected using the purposive sampling method. In addition, 210 samples who were children in Phu Tai community were selected using a cluster sampling method to answer the questionnaires. In the analysis of the data, the descriptive analysis and content analysis were employed. The results of the study showed that the drug problems in Phu Tai community were quite serious. Many children used drugs which negatively affected their life, family, and community. However, the children possessed a good level of life skills. In addition, the most outstanding community capitals of Phu Tai community are the culture capitals and local wisdom capitals. Such capitals helped united Phu Tai people together. The integration of the culture capitals and local wisdom capitals, especially Phu Tai traditional dance and education on life skills, would definitely help prevent children from drug problems.