Effects of Communication Program on Communication Ability of Health Care Volunteers for Patients in a Community in Maelao District, Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

This research is a quasi-experiment through a pre-test and post-test design. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of communication program on communication ability of health care volunteers for patients in a community in Maelao district, Chiang Rai province. The sample consisted of 24 health care volunteers not over 65 years old. Using a simple random sampling method, classified as the experimental group and the control group. Each group consisted of 10 health care volunteers. The experimental group participated in communication program for 10 sessions with each session lasting 1.30 hours. Twice a week and communication program spent a total of 15 hours. The researcher led the group, and the control group did not participate in the program. The instruments used in this study included communication program and a communication ability questionnaire. Data were analyzed by mean, standard deviation and t-test.

            The results of the research revealed that communication program could increase communication ability of health care volunteers as follow: The experimental group average scores after attending the communication program were higher than before attending the communication program at a statistically significant at a level of .01. The experimental group average scores after attending the communication program were higher than the control group at a statistically significant level of .05.