Prevention of child physical and verbal abuse from traditional child discipline methods in rural Thailand

BACKGROUND: In rural areas of Thailand, physical and verbal abuse are accepted as child discipline strategies due to the strong influence of religious beliefs and social norms. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of a nonviolent parenting program on subject's knowledge and attitudes regarding physical and verbal abuse in child discipline. PARTICIPANT: This randomized controlled trial enrolled the villagers who had children under care in a rural area of Thailand. METHODS: This study was scheduled in the following three stages with 3-month intervals: before the program (P0); 3 months after the program (P1); and 6 months after the program (P2). We compared knowledge and attitude scores of subjects at each stage. RESULTS: A total of 85 subjects were enrolled in this study: 50.6% (n = 43) in the control group and 49.4% (n = 42) in the intervention group. In the intervention group, the knowledge score increased after the intervention (P1), decreased 3 months later (P2), but was still higher than the score at P0 (p = < 0.001). The attitude score increased after the intervention at P1 and was maintained at P2 (p = < 0.001). In the control group, data did not demonstrate any difference regarding knowledge and attitude toward child discipline. CONCLUSIONS: The nonviolent parenting program was effective in increasing knowledge and changing attitudes in this study. The intervention can be applied effectively in rural communities because of its simplicity, ease of use, and no required technology.