Life Skills-based Education Guidelines for Women’s Empowerment to Deal with Family Violence

Abstract

The research aims 1) to study the current situation of domestic violence against women in Phitsanulok Province and 2) to create and present life skills-based education to empower women in managing family violence in Phitsanulok Province. This research is a qualitative research. The key informants are family violence experts, school director and teacher, social workers, including the president and members of the Sri Song Khwae Women's Association. The research tools consist of in-depth interview and draft of guidelines for life skills-based education to empower women in managing family violence in Phitsanulok Province. The data are analyzed by content analysis according to the Colaizzi method.

The results show that 1) family violence against women in Phitsanulok Province is on the rise every year, and the number is likely to continue to increase, just like during COVID-19. Most of this is caused by drinking alcohol and drug addiction which affect women both physically and psychologically. Women use an approach to manage violence that starts by talking to someone who is willing to listen and tell them about their own violence and then asking for helping from various agencies. In addition, improving women's quality of life is started by instilling a sense of self-worth and self-esteem. 2) Life skills-based education to empower women in managing family violence consists of formal education, non-formal education, and informal education. Skills used in educational management include problem-solving, self-esteem, and self-awareness to empower women in managing domestic violence those are a pattern, procedure, activities, and evaluations. The body of knowledge from the research consists of three aspects: 1) problem-solving skills, 2) self-esteem skills, and 3) self-awareness skills.