Academic Innovative Tales and the Enhancement of Psycho-moral Strength in Students.

Advanced cumulative body of academic knowledge has been encouraged for promotion and prevention in individuals, groups, and societies. Social crises such as, poverty, ill-health and low intelligence in individuals have to be coped with by using research evidence-based policies and practices. In order to direct more effective social interventions, this paper describes important psycho-behavioral innovations recently available in Thailand. Base on the Thai psychological theory of moral and work behaviors, 4 psychological traits entitled “Psycho-moral strength” (Future orientation and self-control, Need for achievement, Belief in internal locus of control of reinforcement, and Moral reasoning ability) were empirically identified as the major traits for good citizenship behaviors. Sixty innovative stories and tales have been constructed. Twenty stories for preteen children, five stories for each of the 4 traits mentioned above were tried out. Eight hundred grade 5th and grade 8th students in 4 schools outside of Bangkok participated in the randomized experimental study with post-test only design, for the evaluation of each set of the stories. Two well trained adults conducted the class discussions both before and after the video-presentation of each story. The effectiveness of each set of stories on the psychological traits, behaviors and attitudes were reported. The three sets of stories were more suitable for younger students while the moral stories were more effective for older students. The next step is to produce more research studies before putting each story and a small group of students with experienced story trainers into video-TV screen for convenient usage. These new innovations when are widely disseminated can lead to expedite and more effective youth enhancement and national development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]