COMMUNICATION USING THE PRINCIPLE OF YONISO MANASIKARA IN COUNSELING GROUPS OF THE REALITY THEORY ON THE PROBLEM – SOLVING ABILITY OF PHYSICALLY DISABLED IN THE REHABILITATION CENTER FOR THE DISABLED

Abstract

This research article aimed to 1) study the application of communication based on Yoniso Manasikara in Reality Therapy group counseling for persons with physical disabilities; 2) develop group activities based on these principles; and 3) examine the results of the activities on problem-solving thinking ability. A quasi-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design with follow-up assessments was used. The sample consisted of 10 persons with physical disabilities undergoing rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities and Older Persons of Bang Si Thong Subdistrict Municipality, including 4 men and 6 women. The instruments comprised 10 group activities and a problem-solving thinking ability assessment. Data were collected before and after the experiment, with monthly follow-up assessments for 3 months. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a paired-samples t-test. The findings showed that 1) integrating Yoniso Manasikara with Reality Therapy yielded an operational definition for developing group activities, applying Buddhist approaches to communication together with symbols and illustrations; 2) the 10 group activities used illustrations, Jataka accounts, and Jataka stories as media for participants to explore their own needs and actions, evaluate their behavior, and plan changes to their actions; and 3) the mean problem-solving thinking ability score after the experiment (96.20) was statistically significantly higher than before the experiment (84.00; t(9) = 6.578, p < .001). The three follow-up assessments yielded mean scores of 95.10, 94.70, and 94.30, respectively, with no statistically significant differences from the posttest score at the .05 level. These results show that problem-solving thinking ability scores increased after participation in the activities and remained higher than the pretest scores throughout the follow-up period.