Work

Development of a Multicultural Leadership Promotion Program for Youth in Thailand’s Three Southern Border Provinces

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Thailand’s southern border provinces need youth-focused multicultural leadership programs integrating local religious–cultural elements, community involvement, and long-term evaluation to enhance social cohesion and sustainable development. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a program to foster multicultural leadership among youth in Thailand’s three southern border provinces. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved synthesizing key multicultural leadership characteristics, designing a structured program and assessing its relevance and coherence through expert evaluation. The second phase focused on empirical validation by implementing the program with 22 selected youth participants, employing repeated-measures analysis of variance to assess its effectiveness. Additionally, experts evaluated the program’s validity, appropriateness, cost-effectiveness, utility, and feasibility. The resulting program, “EARCA”, comprises five core components: Experiential Exposure, Active Exploration & Engagement, Reflective Thinking & Analysis, Concept Integration & Synthesis, and Application & Extension. Expert assessments confirmed its appropriateness at the highest level, with a consistency index ranging from 0.8 to 1.0. Statistical analyses demonstrated significant improvements in all dimensions of multicultural leadership among participants. Furthermore, the program was rated highly accurate, appropriate, cost-effective, practical, and feasible for real-world implementation. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to enhance multicultural leadership development through structured, evidence-based interventions.

Source: Youth

DOI: 10.3390/youth5030082

Authors: Kasetchai Laeheem, Punya Tepsing, Khaled Hayisa-e

Institution: Prince of Songkla University

Language: English

Topic: Youth Development and Social Support

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Partnerships for the goals

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,207