The impact of political violence and the risk perception affecting working performance among school health nursing professionals in the 3 southern border provinces
Abstract:
The turmoil in the three border provinces of southern Thailand has produced many adverse
consequences for government organizations and personnel of various organizations. Those
consequences have included transfers and termination of jobs among these personnel due to risks from
their work, which has led to a shortage of public health personnel, medical doctors, and nurses. This
research was aimed at studying how the situation in the three border provinces of southern Thailand is
perceived by professional nurses responsible for the school health program, and the relationship
between the violence and turmoil, and nurses performance outcomes in regard to the school health
program. This study was descriptive research. The sample consisted of 137 professional nurses working
in the school health program in Narathiwat,Yala and Pattani provinces. Data collection was carried out
from October 2007 to June 2008 by using the mailed-questionnaire method. Data were analyzed by
computing Pearsons product-moment correlations and multiple regression analysis.
The results showed that there were 1,758 turmoil incidents which occurred between
January 2007 and December 2008, and the highest number of incidents were found to have occurred in
Narathiwat Province. During these afore-mentioned incidents, 927 deaths and 3,778 injury cases were
identified in the three provinces. 46.0 percent of the sample had a moderate level of perceived risk
while performing school health program duties, and 48.0 percent were found to have had a moderate
level of adverse performance outcomes. The violence was found to be related to the samples
performance outcomes, whereas the performance outcomes varied by the different levels of violence
experienced. In addition, it was found that income, allowance/per diem, and the number of turmoil
incidents having occurred could explain 28.2 percent of the variance in the performance outcomes of
the sampled nurses : those who got a high income and received an allowance/per diem had higher levels
of performance outcomes than those who got a low income and did not receive an allowance/per diem.
The following recommendations have been made, based on the research results: 1) further
safety measures should be implemented in order to lower risks and the anxiety of nurses while they are
working and going to and from work; 2) the authorities should provide appropriate vehicles and
communication materials in accordance with different areas; and 3) a new welfare policy should be
established to encourage better working performance among nurses.