At last, some news from the Thai nursing cohort!

The cohort study started in Thailand several months ago, even before this website was created! This is why we have not provided much information on data collection. However, we are now analysing the collected data, and so it is a good opportunity to share some information about the Thai cohort members.

Since April, 342 nursing students have taken part in data collection activities. They came from 4 colleges scattered all over Thailand (see map below). The first group of 78 students came from a college located in Songkla, in the South of the country. The second group to join (82 students) came from the capital Bangkok. Another 65 students from the Northern city of Chiang Mai followed them, and finally we included in the cohort 117 nursing graduates from Ubon Ratchatani, in the Eastern part of the country.

Most nursing students in Thailand are female, hence it is not surprising that there are only 16 male cohort members! All the cohort members are very young, with the average age being just over 22 years (the oldest Thai cohort member is only 25 years old!!). None of the Thai cohort members have started their own families yet.

83% of the Thai cohort were born in rural areas, mostly in the North-Eastern province (around Ubon Ratchatani). Most attended a college in their birth province. However, amongst the cohort members from the North East, a third studied in Bangkok and a further 13% in Chiang Mai in the North.

The South African and Kenyan nursing students are still joining the cohort, but the Thai nurses have already started working. Most of them are expected to work near the college where they studied... to know for sure where they are, stay tuned, as the results of the first follow-up with the Thai nurses will soon be available !