Abstract
Alcohol consumption is an important problem of Thailand which law and social measures for
reducing alcohol consumption have been provided. The purpose of this research was to develop
community participation model to reduce alcohol consumption behavior and study the effects of this
model. It was a research and development study, included 3 phases: the first phase was reviewing
documents and studying community context, the second phase was developing community participation
model and the final phase was studying the effects of the community participation model in reducing
alcohol consumption behavior. The sample size of 30 persons consisted of community leaders and
relevant persons. They were one village headman, one subdistrict headman, seven health volunteers,
one teacher, two health officers, five members of elderly club, one social development volunteer,
four members of Stopdrink network and eight young leaders, divided into two groups by simple random
sampling. Data were collected from in-depth interview and focus group discussion and analyzed
by content analysis.
The results showed that more than 80% of the sample had extensively participated in the process
of model development, that is, they participated in every step of health promotion activity. The
results of the model included social measures by the community, such as surveying drinking people in
community, the community leaders acted as role models to reduce alcohol consumption, asking for
alcohol free zone in the religious ceremony and the festival. The social measures highly empowered
the community and the network. The relevant agencies participated in the health promotion activities.
The people’s alcohol consumption behavior reduced, evaluated from sales in the community.
Temples, schools, and public offices were alcohol free zones. The people knew more about toxicity
of alcohol and they created innovation of reducing alcohol consumption behavior in the community
such as “Love friends, suggest friends” and “New people with strong heart” projects.
It could be concluded that the development of community participation model could reduce
alcohol consumption behavior.
