The quality of life of flood survivors in Thailand, Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University

Abstract

The flood crisis of 2011 was a disaster of the highest order in Thailand and Nakhon Pathom Province was among those hit. The purpose of this research was to explore quality of life of flood survivors in Thailand living in a flood shelter established by Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University. This study was a descriptive research. The research instrument was WHO quality of life-brief Thai questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF-THAI). The data were collected by self administered questionnaires, or read to the subjects who cannot read, then evaluated the answers by themselves on November, 2011. Descriptive statistics, independent-sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were used in the data analysis. The study found that: (1) The quality of life score was found to be at a moderate level of 65.9% and a high of 34.1%. The social relationships domain of quality of life was at the highest level (47.6%). The poorest quality of life score was from the environmental domain (24.9%); (2) There was no significant difference between gender (t=0.004, p-value=0.997) or age (F=1.356, p-value=0.260), with quality of life. The quality of life evaluation of flood survivors should be further monitored after the recovery and a intervention programme should address their respective needs and covers all aged and genders.