Abstract:
The objectives of this research were to 1) study the state of the problem of the garbage management of Wangbor subdistrict, Nong Bua district, Nakhon Sawan province 2) study the categories and amount of garbage in Wangbor subdistrict, 3) develop a participatory learning model for people in the garbage management of Wangbor subdistrict, and 4) compare the knowledge, attitudes and practices of people in garbage management before and after participatory learning classified by gender, age and education level. This research used mixed methods and was divided into 4 stages. Stage1; the state of the problems of the garbage management of Wangbor subdistrict, Nong Bua district, Nakhon Sawan province. The sample consisted of 351 respondents taken from the representatives of household who played a role in garbage management. It was selected by simple random sampling. The tool for data collection was a questionnaire with a reliability of 0.82 and the statistics used for the data analysis were percentage, mean and standard deviation. The sample for the public hearing consisted of 37 community leaders who were selected by purposive sampling. The tool used was the form of public hearing and the data was analyzed by content analysis. Stage 2; studying the categories and amount of garbage with a sample of 30 people taken from the role players in village 9. They were selected by purposive sampling and the tool used was a survey form. The data were analyzed using percentages. Stage 3; developing the model by studying the 30 people from village 9 which were selected by purposive sampling. The tools used were observation forms and focus group discussion forms at the IOC of 1.00. The data were analyzed using content analysis. Stage 4; try out the model and compare the knowledge, attitudes and practices in the garbage management using the same sample of 30 people from village 9 The tool for data collecting was a questionnaire with aspect of knowledge and a discriminant power of more than 0.25 and a difficulty value between 0.60-0.76, IOC of 1.00, and reliability of 0.84. The aspect of attitude had an IOC of 0.97, and a reliability of 0.89, and the aspect of practices had an IOC of 1.00, and a reliability of 0.88. The statistics used for the data analysis were mean, standard deviation, t-test and F-test.
The research results as follows:
1) The state of the problems of the garbage management of Wangbor subdistrict, Nong Bua district, Nakhon Sawan province was found to be, overall, at a high level ( = 14.02, S.D. = 0.34). Most problems such as garbage in the community came from households, followed by discarding trash on the roads in pools canals and public areas. But most of the garbage was discarded at the peoples own homes.
2) The amount of garbage produced in Wangbor subdistrict, Nong Bua district, Nakhon Sawan province within 8 weeks averaged 2,728.95 kilograms. Considered the categories, or types of garbage, most of it was natural disposable garbage (1,376.40 kilograms), followed by recycled garbage (990.10 kilograms), general garbage (213.70 kilograms) and dangerous garbage, 149.65 kilograms.
3) The development of the participatory learning management model for people in the garbage management of Wangbor subdistrict, was composed of 5 stages: perception, analytical thinking, problem planning, implementation and evaluation. The learning management consisted of 4 type: (1) mind mapping (2) fish bone diagram (3) the Future Search Conference (F.S.C.) and (4) participatory planning and the concepts of garbage management based on the 7Rs; (1) reduce (2) reuse (3) repair (4) recycle (5) refill (6) recovery and (7) reject. The suitable model was rated at the highest level ( = 4.82, S.D = 0.70).
4) Comparisons of the knowledge, attitudes and practices in the garbage management of people after the participatory learning management showed higher scores than for before training at a statistical significance of 0.05. Overall, the knowledge score was at a high level ( = 18.43, S.D. = 1.07), the attitude score was at the good level ( = 4.80, S.D. = 0.31) and the practices score was at a high level ( = 4.26, S.D. = 0.21). The comparison factor gender produced no difference in the knowledge, attitudes and practices of garbage management. Age showed no difference for knowledge and attitudes but did show a difference for the practices aspect with a statistical significance of 0.05. People aged 61 years old or more had practices rated at the lowest level as classified by gender, age and education level ( = 4.02, S.D. = 0.15) finally, education level did not produce any difference in the knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning garbage management.