Seed of Non-Violence: Development of a Spiritual Strengthening Program to Reduce a Prototype of Domestic Violence in Kanchanaburi Province

Abstract

 This research article has the following objectives: 1) To study the concept of Buddhist-oriented transformative learning for strengthening spiritual resilience 2) To develop a prototype program for strengthening spiritual resilience in order to reduce domestic violence; and 3) To evaluate the effectiveness of the spiritual resilience enhancement program.  This study is a mixed methods research design. The research setting was the Kanchanaburi Provincial Probation Office. The target groups consisted of key informants for in-depth interviews, including one model family, and a sample group of 44 participants who took part in the prototype program. The instruments used for data collection included an in-depth interview guide, a spiritual resilience enhancement program, and questionnaires for evaluating satisfaction with the prototype program and assessing spiritual resilience. Data were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive analysis. The research findings revealed that  1) Buddhist-oriented transformative learning for strengthening spiritual resilience begins with self-awareness through mindfulness in order to be aware of and recognize anger, which is the root cause of violence. This is consistent with transformative learning theory, but emphasizes mental cultivation in accordance with Buddhist principles and employs the concept of spiritual resilience as the analytical framework. 2) The developed program is the “Mekhiya Model” (M.E.K.H.I.Y.A Model), which consists of 7 dimensions: mindfulness, ethics, spiritual friendship, healing, intention, yielding compassion and action. 3)The evaluation results indicated that participants demonstrated increased spiritual resilience, developed attitudes rejecting violence, and acquired greater skills in peaceful communication within the family.  The new body of knowledge obtained from this study is a learning model that integrates Buddhist psychology with the Thai social context, which supports individuals in achieving inner transformation leading to practices free from violence in terms of mental action, verbal action, and bodily action.