Peace Innovation for Enhancing the Culture of Happiness for Personnel at the Ministry of Public Health

Abstract

The research article aimed at creating and presenting the results of using peace innovation for enhancing the culture of happiness for personnel at the Ministry of Public Health based on the Buddhist peaceful means as well as the principles of participation. The study applied the participation action research method with a volunteer group who was personnel of the Public Health Administration Division, in a total of 25 persons. The research instruments were in-depth interview, participant observation, focus group discussion, appreciation influence control (AIC), and after action review (AAR). The activities were designed into 4 phases and the evaluation was conducted by way of analyzing the qualitative data. From the study, it is found as follows: The fundamental concepts refer to the creation of participation based on the Buddhist peaceful means, namely, the application of Iddhipāda (the 4 paths for accomplishment) to create happiness at an individual level and Sāraṇīyadhamma (the 6 states of conciliation) to expand the area of happiness of people who have common opinions. The process can be divided into 4 phases: 1) watering the seeds; 2) cultivating the seeds; 3) producing flowers and fruit; and 4) branching out. As a result, the culture of happiness has occurred to a volunteer group in 4 aspects as follows: 1) physical health; 2) society; 3) mental health; and 4) intellect. The new body of knowledge found from the study is “P-H-D-B” model consisting as follows: 1) “P” stands for peace volunteers by seeking people who have a habit of doing good deeds in order to create motivation and the process of participation; 2) “H” stands for hearing out by listening and working together as a team in harmony; 3) “D” stands for development by developing a good interaction process; and 4) “B” stands for branching out by taking part in reviewing problems, obstacles, the results from the process of enhancing happiness, and the results from branching out happiness.