Abstract:
This research is a research and development (R&D) with the objectives to study and develop a model for measurement of psychological well-being and a program of Buddhist group counseling of registered nurses; the research procedures were as follows: Phase 1 (R1); to study the Western and Eastern conceptual framework of psychological well-being, and to study the guideline of development of the program of Buddhist group counseling. Phase 2 (D1); to develop the model for measurement of psychological well-being through the sampling groups of 1,422 registered nurses from hospitals of Bangkok Metropolitan, 612 persons for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and 810 persons for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The developed program was based on the concept Buddhism teachings, procedures of Buddhist group counseling and the components of psychological well-being. Phase 3 (R2); to study the results of the program of Buddhist group counseling with 50 voluntary group of registered nurse group from Vajira Hospital who had psychological well-being percentile of lower than 25, selected by a simple random sampling, 24 registered nurses were assigned into 2 groups, 12 each, through the matching sampling method following by simple random to the experimental group and control group studies. The experimental group received 3-hour sessions of the psychological well-being counseling for 12 sessions, while the control group livedtheir daily activities. The research instruments used were the psychological well-being measurement. The data were collectedin 3 phases; pre-trial, post-trial, and follow-up. The statistics for data analysis were two-way repeated-measures ANOVA analysis. Phase 4 (D2); to revise the developed program by analyzing the results from the evaluation experience records of the sample groups, audio records of conversation while having the group counseling, and by observation of the overall activity. The results of the research for phase 1 (R1): The development of the conceptual framework of the Western psychological well-being by Ryff and the Eastern psychological wellbeing by Somdej Phra Buddhakosachan (P. A. Payutto). For the phase 2 (D1): Measurement of psychological well-being of registered nurses with 81 key performance indexes comprised of 10 components: 1) life-acceptance, 2) awareness of self and others, 3) life-awareness, 4) positive relationships with others, 5) true knowing of self and others, 6) persistence habit in life, 7) truth in life, 8) autonomy, 9) life satisfaction, and 10) self-consciousness. The model could provide a reliability index of .982, and a discriminant index of between .23-.85. Moreover, the psychological well-being component model is well consistent with the empirical data ( 2 = 5719.57, df= 2552, p= .05, RMSEA = .04, NFI = .99, NNFI = .99, CFI = .99, RMR = .03, SRMR = .04, GFI = .94, AGFI = .90). As the result, the program of Buddhist group counseling towards the development of psychological well-being in 10 components of registered nurses using the Four Noble Truths and the Idappacayatā Principle or specific conditionality as the base for combination working with the Buddhist group was obtained. The counseling (4FTIR) was done for 12 times of 3 hours each. For the phase 3 (R2), from the results of using the Buddhist group counseling program, it was found that the experimental group of registered nurses processed through the program had the scores on the psychological well-being in the post-test period and in the follow-up period higher than that of the pre-experimental period and was higher than that of the control group with the statistical significance level of .01. For the phase 4 (D2), the revision of the developed group counseling program after the implementation, it was found that the group counseling program could provide 2 important aspects: 1) group leaders friendliness, and 2) the process of Buddhist groups consulting (4FTIR). Moreover, there were 4 additional issues needed to be further developed, namely, 1) the readiness preparation of members, 2) the readiness of the group leaders as the tools to the study, 3) the counseling program, and 4) the number of the members.