Demands of Short-Term Courses for Elderly Readiness in Thai Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study the demands and appropriate teaching methods of short-term courses for elderly readiness in Thai Higher Education Institutions. 1,604 samples were elders and interested people from each of the six regions of the country. The tools used in this descriptive research was questionnaires. Data analysis was conducted through content review. The statistics used were frequency and percentage. The research found that: (1) The demands of short-term courses as a whole; The top five subjects were holistic health care for the elders (51.81%), nutrition suitable for the elders (48.25%), exercise for the elders (44.56%), diseases to be aware of among the elder (40.05%), and physiotherapy and counseling for the elders (32.79%). (2) The results of comparison of the demands of Elder Program by five groups found that the general group (20-49 years) and the preparatory group (50-59 years) viewed that the appropriate teaching methods were online teaching, teaching from practice and teaching through social media while the primary-elder group (60-69 years), the middle-aged group (70-79 years) and the late-elder group (80 years and over) agree that it should be teaching from online teaching and teaching in the classroom. In addition, the general group (20-49 years), the preparatory group (50-59 years) and the preliminary elder group (60-69 years) viewed that the appropriate teaching medias were social media and multimedia. The middle-aged group (70-79 years) thought it should be social media and television, and the late-aged group (80 years and over) viewed that the appropriate teaching media was on television.