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Integrated group counselling to enhance mental health and resilience of Thai army rangers

2015; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 6; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/21507686.2015.1091018

2150-7708

Doungmani Chongruksa, Penprapa Prinyapol, Sayan Sawatsri, Chanya Pansomboon,

Art Therapy and Mental Health

This research investigated a group counselling model for Thai army rangers in the three southernmost provinces during political conflict. The intervention focused on the improvement of mental health and resilience, and the reduction of risk symptoms related to stress. The group process was the interactive model of existential therapy, art therapy using mandala, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and psychoeducation. The design was a controlled experiment. Forty-four voluntary rangers aged between 22 and 45 years were randomly assigned equally to the experiment and the control groups. They were selected from 384 rangers derived by cluster sampling based on low scores of Resilience Scale and Thai Mental Health Indicator (TMHI-54), and on high scores of Thai General Health Questionnaires (GHQ-28). The assessment was done before treatment, at termination and at 1-month follow-up. The experimental group attended a 20-session group counselling, whereas the control group received educational information. Data analyses indicated that the average scores of those attending group counselling after the experiment and follow-up were significantly different from those of the control in all three inventories with relative medium effect sizes and at 1-month follow-up with small decrease in effect sizes. The significant differences were also revealed in subscales.