THE WAYS TO FIND OUT THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BE TRAINED AND COMPARE THE TRAINING RESULTS BETWEEN THAI AND LAOTIAN WOMEN FOR THE ELDERLY CARE TRAINING COURSE IN THAILAND

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to study the ways to get Laotian and Thai women to attend the Elderly Care Training Course in Thailand, and to compare results of training Thai and Laotian women in the Elderly Care Training Course.  This study was a qualitative research. The data collection could be separated into two parts. In the first part, data was gathered via focus group discussion. The selected participants of this part were six people, 4 Laotians and 2 Thais who were involved in the Elderly Care Training Course and had the power for decision making on the ways to select Laotian women for attending the Elderly Care Training Course with the proper recruiting method.  In the second part, data was derived from action research method and behavior observation.  The participants were observed during course work (theory sessions) and practicing sessions. The participants in this part were classified into 2 groups - 5 Thai women and 5 Laotian women.

The results of this study revealed that there were 3 ways to recruit and select Laotian women to attend the Elderly Care Training Course in Thailand. The first one was to contact the Lao Women’s Union by following Laos’s single gateway law. The second one was to coordinate with the Laotians who already worked in Thailand to persuade their relatives or friends to attend the training course. The last one was the selection of trainees from Laotians who currently worked in Thailand.

In addition, this study also  pointed out that the mean score from theory sessions for Thai women was 2.21 or B grade (Satisfactory level); while that of Laotian women was  2.47 or A grade (Good level).  Meanwhile, the results from observation in practicing sessions for both Thai women and Laotian women were in the same level at A grade (Good level). The mean scores for Thai women and Laotian women in practicing sessions were 2.40 and 2.44, respectively.