Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Chiang Rai (Thailand : Province)'

This study examines ecotourism planning and management and sustainable development in rural areas of Chiang Rai province, Thailand. The assessment was based on developing a new conceptual framework based on a political ecology approach to examine ecotourism and sustainable development. It drew from theoretical ideas from the Western literature and previous studies about Thailand, and it is intended to be more integrative and comprehensive than previous ecotourism frameworks because it combines environmental ideas from research on natural resource management with a broad social science perspective. Political ecology helps to understand the complex connections between environment, economy, society, ideology and politics, and it explores the relationships among local actors and between them and relevant external actors. The framework was also developed to be sufficiently broad and flexible to be applied to understanding ecotourism planning and management in different rural areas. This framework was applied and evaluated for three case study rural areas in Chiang Rai province - Rong Bom, Yang Kham Nu and Ruammit villages. The framework was used to explore relations in these villages between the economy and society, politics and administration, practices and ideologies of sustainable development, and the management of ecotourism activities. These were examined from the perspectives of different actors within the villages and also outside them. Qualitative methods were adopted and relevant primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and fieldwork observation. The collected data were analyzed, interpreted and reported in the study using a thematic analysis method which drew on the study's conceptual framework. The research findings focused on relations between local social relations and sustainability, the ideologies of sustainability, and the local practices of ecotourism planning and management and sustainability. It was found, for example, that in villages where there was more cultural and society homogeneity the villagers were better placed to manage ecotourism and to promote more sustainable forms of development. It was also evident that in two of the villages there was a strong focus on environmental conservation in their activities, and this has subsequently attracted tourists to see their conservation practices and community forest work. In one of the villages commercial ecotourism led to environmental degradation, and it was then that conservation concerns were given more prominence. The village leaders were also seen to have an influential role, encouraged by Thai culture which accords respect and deference to people with higher social status. This had negative repercussions for ecotourism planning as villagers often had limited understanding of their potential for participation in ecotourism policy-making. It may also have encouraged a situation where local people often received less benefit from ecotourism than did external tour operators and where external government policies for ecotourism focused on economic returns rather than community development. The study concludes with an evaluation of the value of the conceptual framework for research on ecotourism planning, including consideration of its potential for use in other contexts and geographical areas.

Depuis les années 1990, les mutations urbaines et architecturales suscitent une sensibilité accrue à l'égard du patrimoine urbain et architectural ordinaire. Celle-ci conduit à élaborer des nouvelles démarches dans le sens de la participation citoyenne aux projets patrimoniaux, face aux menaces de destruction pesant sur les quartiers et édifices anciens et comme alternatives aux positions des institutions officielles en matière de sauvegarde. La démarche participative prend en considération les ensembles urbains ordinaires associés aux pratiques domestiques et coutumières des collectivités locales, qui ont été jusqu'alors négligés au profit d'une vision nationale du patrimoine. Ceci marque un tournant dans la façon de considérer le patrimoine et de concevoir le projet patrimonial. Cette recherche vise à mettre en évidence la place du patrimoine urbain ordinaire et celle de la participation citoyenne dans la constitution du champ patrimonial à Chiang Mai entre 1990 et 2014, période de transition du pouvoir de gestion patrimoniale. Chiang Mai constitue un terrain d'étude éclairant et cet égard, dans la mesure où il y existe des dynamiques locales et un engagement fort des citoyens dans l'action patrimoniale.La présente recherche s'inscrit dans le champ des études patrimoniales critiques qui entend déconstruire des discours patrimoniaux hégémoniques des institutions étatiques et des organisme internationaux tels l'UNESCO. Elle interroge la pluralité des pratiques patrimoniales, des significations attachées à l'objet valorisé et leurs dissonances. En combinant des approches architecturale et socio-anthropologique, cette recherche met en place une démarche croisant analyse des projets architecturaux à vocation patrimoniale et l'analyse du lexique associé à ces projets.Considérées ici comme « tiers-espace » (Bhabha, 2006), les situations conflictuelles – suscitées par des projets en décalage, voire en contradiction avec les manières de penser et de faire des habitants – sont examinées pour leur potentiel d'innovation et de renouvellement des conceptions et des pratiques du patrimoine. Les controverses sont, nous en faisons l'hypothèse, des temps forts de concertation et de négociation qui rendent possible le métissage de visions et référents patrimoniaux hétérogènes, et l'élaboration des propositions singulières. Elles témoignent de la capacité d'agir des acteurs locaux, celle-ci se traduisant par l'adaptation de pratiques et de conceptions locales et par l'appropriation de dispositifs internationaux et sont à l'origine de discours et d'approches hybrides relatifs au patrimoine, adaptés au contexte culturel spécifique.Cette recherche s'intéresse ainsi aux mots du patrimoine qui sont issus de l'assemblage entre références locales et références internationales. Ces mots sont considérés comme indicateurs de nouvelles notions et catégories patrimoniales. Dans ce cadre, nous étudions l'évolution du sens du patrimoine, du « monument ancien » (boransathan) au « patrimoine de la communauté » (moradok chumchon), évolution qui correspond au passage de la politique centralisatrice de l'État thaïlandais au principe de la décentralisation de la gestion patrimoniale. Les mots révélateurs de différences ou les « intraduisibles » du patrimoine (Cassin et Wosny, 2016) sont aussi examinés à travers la réinterprétation locale des notions internationales de « patrimoine culturel matériel et immatériel ». Celle-ci rend compte du décalage entre les visions du monde locales et les notions internationales fondées sur la perception européenne du patrimoine, et la façon dont les acteurs locaux instrumentalisent ces notions à leur profit pour revendiquer le droit à la gestion du patrimoine
Since the 1990s, the rapid urban transformations have raised much awareness about the ordinary urban and architectual heritage. This leads to develop a new approach towards citizen participation in conservation projects, aimed at confronting the threats of urban growth and defending points of view differing from the position of the national institutions. The participative approach takes into account the ordinary urban fabric and culture related to customary and domestic practices of local collectivities, which until then had been neglected at the expense of a focus on a national vision of heritage. This marks a turning point in the way of considering heritage and designing the conservation project. This research aims to examine the role of ordinary heritage and citizens' participation in the construction of heritage at Chiang Mai from 1990 to 2014, period of transition of heritage management power. In this framework, Chiang Mai provides an informative study site as there are local dynamics and strong involvement of the citizens in the conservation process.This research relates to the academic field of critical heritage studies, which intend to deconstruct hegemonic discourses produced by state institutions and international organizations such as UNESCO. It examines the plurality of practices and significance attached to the valued object, and their dissonance. By combining architectural and socio-anthropological approaches, this research sets up a twofold analysis of conservation projects and vocabulary related to these projects.Considered here as « Third space » (Bhabha, 2006), the conflict situations – raised by the gap and even contradiction between the project and the ways of thinking and doing things of inhabitants – are examined for their potential for innovating and renewing the heritage conceptions and practices. We assume that the controversy is specific time for dialogue and negotiations, that enables the hybridization of diverse visions and referents of heritage, and the development of singular proposals. This shows the capacity of local actors to undertake actions, reflected in the adaptation of local notions and practices and the appropriation of international apparatus, that generate the hybrid discourses and practices of heritage, adapted to the specific cultural context.This research focuses on the vocabulary of heritage, emerging from a blend of local and international references. We consider this kind of vocabulary as an indicator of new heritage notions and categories. In this perspective, we study the evolution of meaning of heritage which have been developed over time, from "ancient monument" (boransathan) to "community's heritage" (moradok chumchon). This corresponds to the shift from State's centralist policies to the principle of decentralization of heritage management. The words revealing the difference or the "heritage untranslatables" (Cassin et Wosny, 2016) are also examined through the local reinterpretation of international concepts such as "tangible and intangible cultural heritage". This shows the gap between local worldview and international concepts which are based on Western perception of heritage, and demonstrates the way in which local actors instrumentalise the international concepts of heritage for claiming their right to manage local heritage

Cette étude, conçue comme un état des lieux des peintures murales dans les monastères de six districts de la province de Chiang Mai, a permis d’une part d’étudier les différents acteurs de la commande artistique [commanditaires, donateurs, artistes] et d’autre part de définir ces peintures en quatre groupes selon une classification à la fois chronologique et stylistique. Les multiples facteurs susceptibles d’influencer la présence ou l’absence de peintures dans les temples ont été également examinés. Une comparaison de l’iconographie présentée dans ces temples entre les quatre groupes retrouvés a été également entreprise afin d’affiner les caractéristiques de ces derniers. En parallèle, une attention toute particulière a été portée aux artistes travaillant dans les temples afin de mieux connaître ces individus méconnus et ignorés. Formations, milieux sociaux, place de la femme artiste, inspirations et influences, autant de thèmes évoqués au sein de cette étude
This study, designed as an inventory of murals in the monasteries of six districts of the province of Chiang Mai made it possible on the one hand to study the various actors involved in an art order [sponsors, donors, artists] and on the other hand to classify these paintings into four groups according to their chronological and stylistic description. The multiple factors likely to influence the presence or the absence of paintings in the temples were also examined. A comparison of the iconography between the four groups found in these temples was also undertaken in order to refine their characteristics. In parallel, special attention was paid to the artists working in the temples in order to learn more about these unsung and ignored individuals. Training, social environments, place of the woman artist, inspirations and influences are topics discussed in this study

Based on oral histories of agriculture and health in the Mae Chaem valley, northern Thailand, this work documents changing child health and medical practice since the 1950's and explores possible connections with increasing pesticide use. The research shows how local knowledge can help us understand relationships between changing technology, ecology, and human health. Parents and farmers in the Mae Chaem valley of Chiang Mai province, Northern Thailand, live at the intersection of multiple local and global streams of land use and child health biotechnology. Based on systematically collected autobiographical oral histories from parents and farmers, as well as interviews and participant observation with land use and child health experts the study considers the relationships between child health and land use change, and particularly the rise of pesticide intensive cash cropping, since the late 1950’s. Introductory chapters on theory and methods precede a description of the ethnographic context. Case studies illustrating parent and farmer histories of child health and land use change spanning fifty years are provided. Seven streams of biotechnical expertise are identified, and mini-ethnographies are provided for each including domestic, Buddhist, Muang, spirit, market, national, and Christian. These seven streams are analyzed using actor-network theory (ANT) with relationships to particular notions of ontology, cosmology, and ecology. Results demonstrate the ongoing importance of parents and farmers as decision making agents at the intersection of multiple and competing cultural and biotechnical streams, even where they face efforts by large multinational corporations or other agencies to advertise, constrain and monopolize local biotechnical choice. Within the fifty year time period under consideration, the oral histories describe particular child health and land use trends. These locally perceived trends provide challenging perspectives on the relationship between ‘development’ and child health in Thailand. While children die far less often now than in the past, oral histories suggest that both children and fields now suffer from more kinds of illness, and more often, than before. In particular, both qualitative and more quantitative analysis suggests differences in the experience of child health among pesticide and non-pesticide using households.

Cette thèse examine le gouvernement de la sexualité de deux populations adolescentes (10-19 ans) confrontées au VIH, à savoir les adolescents en population générale et les adolescents nés avec le VIH, dans la société nord thaïlandaise contemporaine. Pour ce faire, entre les mois de mai 2009 et de janvier 2012, des observations directes et participantes ont été conduites durant des actions collectives d’éducation pour la santé sexuelle destinées à ces deux populations adolescentes. Des entretiens semi-dirigés ont également été menés auprès des « adultes » et « adolescents » présents durant ces actions. Les résultats de cette thèse montrent comment les « adultes » agissant auprès des adolescents en population générale tendent à percevoir la sexualité de ces derniers comme le reflet d’une pathologisation de la société. En outre, ils révèlent de quelle manière les « adultes » intervenant auprès des adolescents nés avec le VIH tendent à appréhender la sexualité de ces derniers comme la preuve de leur normalisation. Ces résultats mettent également en lumière les difficultés éprouvées par les « adultes » à parler ouvertement de la sexualité avec les adolescents en population générale. Ils dévoilent aussi les barrières rencontrées par les « adultes » pour parler de manière explicite de leur statut infectieux avec les adolescents nés avec le VIH. Ils indiquent par quels mécanismes les différents éducateurs enquêtés peinent à établir des relations égalitaires avec leurs cadets
This thesis investigates the governing of sexuality of two adolescent populations (10-19 years old) encountered HIV in Chiang Mai in contemporary Northern Thai society. These include adolescents among the general population and adolescents born with HIV. In doing so, direct and participant observations were conducted in the course of collective actions associated with sexual health education and dedicated to those adolescent populations from May 2009 to January 2012. In-depth interviews were also led among “adults” and “adolescents” participating in these activities. The results of this thesis show how “adults” interacting with adolescents among the general population tend to perceive sexuality of these adolescents as reflecting the society’s pathologization. They reveal how “adults” interacting among adolescents born with HIV demonstrate the tendency to comprehend these adolescents’ sexuality as evidence of their normalization. The results also highlight the difficulty experienced by “adults” in speaking openly about sexuality with adolescents among the general population. Furthermore, they expose the obstacles encountered by “adults” when openly discussing about the infectious status of adolescents born with HIV. Finally, the thesis indicates why the various educators who were investigated experienced difficulty in establishing equal relationships with the younger ones

'Language Ecology and Language Planning in Chiang Rai, Thailand' had three main aims: to study the language ecology and sub-ecologies of Chiang Rai province, to study the factors and forces that affect the language ecology, and to study language plans and language policies in Chiang Rai. This study employed two main frameworks: theoretical and methodological framework. The theoretical construct is based on a parameter rich linguistic theory, Ecolinguistics, where concepts and parameters from linguistics and non-linguistics disciplines are employed. The parameter rich theory assists immensely in the understanding of language as it believes that language is interconnected with the world and the world with language. The study was conducted using ethnography as the methodological framework due to it allowing a wide array of data collection methods which include document studies, observation, participant observation, recorded and unrecorded interviews, personal communications and field notes. Moreover, ethnography provided an opportunity to reflect on the researcher's multiple identities and in varying degrees as insider and outsider. Data collection was conducted in Chiang Rai and six villages in three districts; two districts in the Greater Mae Khong Subregion (G1-IS) area namely Chiang Khong and Chiang Saen; and one district in a special economic border zone area Maesai district. The districts were chosen based on economic influences while the six villages were randomly selected. The villages studied were Wiang Mok and Huay Kok villages in Chiang Khong district; Sop Ruak and Santhaat villages in Chiang Saen province; and Phamee and Payaang Chum in Maesai district. Data were also collected from stakeholders concerned in language planning namely government and nongovernment organizations. There were two main findings in accordance with the research aims. Firstly, it was found that the language ecology and sub-ecologies of Chiang Rai province and the villages were dynamic and multiplex. The dynamics and complexities of the ecology and sub-ecologies wee dependent on numerous interactions of different factors and forces. The factors were social educational, geographical, economic, and political/geopolitical. There were four main levels of forces: world level, national level, regional/provincial level, and home level. The interaction of forces could be positive, negative or neutral to the health of the language ecology. Secondly, with regards to language planning and policy, it was found that there was no explicit minority language policy or planning in Thailand. Two types of language policy were found in Chiang Rai and Thailand: a top-down policy and quasi-bottom up policy. Both policies were education related. The top-down policies were comprised of an implicit national language policy and an explicit foreign language policy, especially for English and Chinese. The quasi-bottom up policy was the only local policy found in Chiang Rai where a Chinese language curriculum was developed at the local level but with a national economic related strategic vision. The study also suggested that future language planning and policies in Thailand should take into account the findings of language ecology and sub-ecologies in Chiang Rai. Language plans should recognise the effect of those factors and forces that will affect other languages within the same ecology.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2009

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
華語文教學研究所
99
This paper investigates the current state of Chinese language education in secondary schools in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, with the goal of promoting understanding of the development of Chinese language education in Chiang Rai. The author conducted an analysis of relevant literature, interviews with teachers and surveys of administrative staff and students, in order to determine what factors have influenced Chinese language education in Chiang Rai. The author hopes this study can serve as a reference for the development of Chinese language education in Chiang Rai and elsewhere. The author found that the Education Service Area Office developed a Chinese language curriculum and teaching materials for Chiang Rai with the goal of standardizing Chinese teaching throughout the province. However, many schools have not yet formally adopted either the curriculum or the materials that had been developed, and have thus far only used content that relates to Chiang Rai. Furthermore, the teaching methods used by many teachers in Chiang Rai fail to focus students’ attention, and many teachers are overly reliant on textbooks. However, students prefer that teachers use multimedia and hope that the learning process could be made more relaxing and pleasant. Although students like Chinese and understand the benefits of learning it, they retain a passive attitude towards their studies. Teaching resources are also a major issue: some schools offer a variety of Chinese language courses, but still lack of teaching materials. Teachers rarely use all the facilities schools offer, and multimedia resources do not meet students’ and teachers’ needs. Finally, student assessment does not balance listening, speaking, reading and writing; instead the Ministry of Education’s exams focus mainly on reading and writing, with little attention paid to listening and speaking. There are currently no specific standards for learning Chinese in Thailand. The author found a total of ten factors that influenced Chinese education in Chiang Rai Province: 1) Secondary schools have started Chinese language courses in order to comply with the policies of Thailand’s Ministry of Education. Some of these schools started Chinese courses despite lacking the necessary resources. 2) Schools integrated Chinese classes into the World-Class Standard School Plan’s second language program, but these courses provide few course hours, and there is a dearth of qualified teachers. 3) Schools have not actively implemented Chiang Rai Province’s Chinese curriculum or teaching materials. 4) Supervisors lack knowledge of Chinese, which is detrimental to the promotion of Chinese learning and the supervision of Chinese teachers. 5) Chinese courses’ course hours vary from school to school. 6) Thai teachers and native language teachers are not evenly distributed between schools, and are frequently transferred. 7) The Thai Ministry of Education and the Chiang Rai provincial government promote “Experience Chinese” and “Chinese Language Course” as a set of “unified” teaching materials, but schools have the right to choose their own materials, so in fact a wide variety of materials are used throughout the province. 8) Students do not actively seek opportunities to study, thereby harming the development of Chinese education. 9) Schools lack resources, and teachers often use the resources available to them in extracurricular activities rather than in their classes, which is of relatively little help to students. 10) Thailand and Chiang Rai Province still lack clear Chinese language assessment standards.

TB recurrence is defined as a new episode of bacteriologically positive TB in a patient previously declared successfully completed treatment. Our study objective was to identify risk factors of recurrence among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected TB patients. Based on a population-based TB/HIV surveillance database of Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, a retrospective cohort of TB patients with successful completions of treatment between 1997 and 2008 was constructed. Poisson regression was used to model independent effects of risk factors. TB recurrence rates were 5.4/1,000 PYs and 9.7/1,000 PYs for HIV-uninfected and infected TB patients, respectively. We identified that among HIV-uninfected patients, older age, being hilltribe, being prisoners, were at higher risk of recurrence. While among HIV-infected patients, younger age, being male, and having been cured from initial episode were associated with higher recurrence rates. Targeted, practical preventive and treatment strategies for those patients need to be implemented to lower the TB recurrence rates.
Epidemiology

碩士
嘉南藥理大學
環境工程與科學系
103
Biomass burning is recognized as one of the major factors affecting the regional-to-global weather and climate. The aerosol samples in this study were collected at Doi Ang Khang, Chiang Mai, Thailand from 23 Feb.–7 April 2013, corresponding to the monsoonal dry season and a maximum in agricultural and forest fire activity, by using MOUDI and Nano MOUDI. Characteristics and provenance of anhydrosugars (levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan), sugars (galactose, glucose and mannose), sugar alcohols (glycerol, erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, myo-inositol and arabitol) in aerosol were investigated. Levoglucosan, glucose and myo-inositol were the most dominant anhydrosugar, sugar, and sugar alcohol, respectively. The dominant concentration peaks occurred for levoglucosan, glucose and myo-inositol were in the size ranges of 0.1–2.5 μm, 0.5–1.0 μm, and 0.2–1.0 μm, respectively. High concentration of levoglucosan was found at nighttime. The levoglucosan/mannosan mass ratio reported in this study was 3.21. Levoglucosan was found to be the most useful marker for biomass burning emitted from forest fire event in the mountain around Chiang Mai. Principle component analysis showed an accordant result indicated photochemical products from biomass burning, biogenic activity and vehicles exhaust were mainly sources of PM at Doi Ang Khang, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

This thesis investigates how ethnic communities perceive the problems and benefits of local participation in the tourism planning process. It also explores how inhabitants perceive the general impacts of tourism development. In particular, problems associated with tourism development in terms of its impacts on ethnic communities, as understood by the local residents involved, are identified. One factor suggested by the results is that such impacts are in part a result of both insufficient and ineffective participation of local residents in tourism planning.

This dissertation examines the cross-border flows of media texts, migration and the construction of ethnic identity in the receiving state. It focuses on the recent wave of Shan ethnic nationals from Burma who migrate to seek work in Thailand and their relationships with Shan media -- primarily in the forms of audio cassettes, video CDs, and movies -- that follow these mobile people. My purpose in linking mass media and migration is to understand how displacement shapes the social construction of identity and how Shan ethnic media plays a significant role in shaping identity in a situation of displacement. Based on eighteen months of ethnographic work with the Shan migrant community in Chiang Mai, Thailand, this dissertation argues on two grounds. First, while Shan media shows the ability to cross the borders, and hence disturbs the boundaries of the state, transnational flows are also shaped by the politics and practices of a nation-state. The diversification of Shan media that now include a variety of local, national and transnational as well as commercial and community media illustrates ways in which mass media can offer both a technology of state control as well as parallel spaces for alternative transnational practice. Second, I argue for the need to pay attention to diversity within a migrant population, in particular the presence of various groups of migrants at the same point of time. In trying to understand how different social and material conditions and the history of migration shape the ways people ascribe to ethnic and national identity, this study draws on four different categories of Shan migrants -- the new arrivals, the long-term residents, the ethno-nationalists, and the exile prisoners. Each of these points to different ways of engagement with this media and the different meanings the individuals in each category ascribe to the notion of Shan nation and to what it means to be Shan.
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Thailand has faced under-nutrition and yet, paradoxically, the prevalence of diseases of over-nutrition, such as obesity and diabetes, has escalated. Since access to diabetes prevention programs is limited in Thailand, especially in rural areas, it becomes critical to develop a health information delivery system that is relevant, cost-effective and sustainable. Therefore, the main objective of this program is to build capacity for chronic disease prevention in Thailand through application of learning technologies in the education, support and accreditation of community health care workers (CHCWs). This program stems from established partnerships among: The University of Waterloo (UW), Department of Health Studies and Gerontology; Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University (INMU); The Office of Disease Prevention and Control 10 Chiang Mai province; Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Thailand and UW, Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) . The development of the community-based diabetes prevention education program in Chiang Mai, Thailand was informed by in-depth interviews with health care professionals (n=12) and interviews (n=8) and focus groups (n = 4 groups, 23 participants) with community volunteers, screened as at-risk for diabetes. Coded transcripts from audio-taped interviews or focus groups underwent qualitative analysis by hand and using NVivo software. Health care professionals identified opportunities to integrate health promotion/ disease prevention into CHCWs’ duties. However, they also identified potential barriers to program success as motivation for regular participation, and lack of health policy support for program sustainability. Health care professionals supported an education program for CHCWs and recommended small-group workshops, hands-on learning activities, case studies and video presentations that bring knowledge to practice within their cultural context; CHCWs should receive a credit for continuing study. Community volunteers lacked knowledge of nutrition, diabetes risk factors and resources to access health information. They desired two-way communication with CHCWs. A tailored diabetes prevention education program was designed based on this formative research. Learning modules were delivered over eight group classes (n=5/class) and eight self-directed E-learning sessions (www.FitThai.org). The program incorporated problem-based learning, discussion, reflection, community-based application, self-evaluation and on-line support. The frequency that students accessed on-line materials, including video-taped lectures, readings, monthly newsletters, and community resources, was documented. Participant satisfaction was assessed through three questionnaires. Knowledge was assessed through pre-post testing based on an exam that was pilot tested with 32 CHCWs from a district outside of the 5 districts in semi-urban Chiang Mai province from which the 69 participating CHCWs (35 intervention, 34 control) were randomly selected. The program was implemented over four months. Three quarters of participants attended all eight classes and no participant attended fewer than six. Online support and materials were accessed 3 – 38 times (median 13). Participants reported that program information and activities were fun, useful, culturally relevant, and applicable to diabetes prevention in their specific communities. Participants also appreciated the innovative technology support for their work. Comfort with E-learning varied among participants. Scores on pre-post knowledge test increased from a mean (SD) of 56.5% (6.26) to 75.5% (6.01) (P < .001). The effect of the program on knowledge of CHCWs was compared between intervention and control communities at baseline and the end of the program. Overall, the knowledge at baseline of both groups was not significantly different (56.5% (6.26) intervention versus 54.9% (6.98) control) and all CHCWs scored lower than 70%. The lowest scores were found in the “understanding of nutritional recommendations” section (mean score = 28% in intervention and 30% in control CHCWs). After 4 months, CHCWs in the intervention group demonstrated improvement relative to the control group (75.5% (6.01) versus 57.4% (5.59), respectively, p <.001, n=69). The percent of CHCWs achieving a total score of 70% was 77% (27/35) in intervention and 0% in control groups. The diabetes prevention education program was effective in improving CHCWs’ health knowledge relevant diabetes prevention. The innovative learning model has potential to expand chronic disease prevention training of CHCWs to other parts of Thailand. Ultimately, prevention of chronic diseases and associated risk factors should be enhanced.