The Effects of a Knowledge Management Skill Development Program (KMSDP) on the Holistic Health Promotion Knowledge Management Behaviors of Muslim Women Leaders

Abstract

Background: Women have high average life spans and live longer than men. In Thai-Muslim society, women have the role of caring and promoting the health of everyone in their family, such as preparing food, raising the children, and taking care sick persons so they are required to be leaders for promoting health in the family. Objectives: To develop a KMSDP and to study the effects of using a KMSDP for knowledge management behaviors regarding holistic health promotion by Muslim women leaders Methods: This research is of an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. The researcher analyzed the qualitative data and SECI concept to develop the KMSDP. The quantitative data were applied to test the program using a pre-test and post-test design. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental group (n=35). Descriptive statistics and independent t-test were used for the data analyses. Results: The qualitative findings indicated three themes applied to create the program: 1) To be in accordance with the Muslim way of life; 2) To conform to rubric religious principle; and 3) To agree with family leaders. As for the effects of the KMSDP on the holistic health promotion knowledge management behaviors, it was found that the post-test mean scores for knowledge, management, and skills were higher than those for the pre-test mean scores at a statistical significance level of .001. Conclusion: Healthcare providers, proactively promoting health in the Muslim community, can apply this program to develop Muslim women leaders for holistic health promotion.