Many children and adolescents in Thailand today suffer from mental health issues such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and anxiety disorder. Rapid technological change has resulted in each family's way of life becoming ever more rapid. As a result, many parents compensate for the time they lost with their children by spoiling them. Indulgent parenting, on the other hand, deprives children of parental care and mental counsel, resulting in emotional and behavioral issues such as stubbornness, self-will, defiance, and aggression. Understanding and behavioral adjustments from parents are required to effectively prevent such behavior. In fact, research shows that Parent Management Training (PMT) is an effective and widely used intervention on a global scale. In these 20 years, the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital has only been able to organize Parent Management Training: PMT for 3,300 participants, which is 0.17% of the 1.8 million families who require psychiatric treatment, or only 150 participants per year. Due to limited staffing, family travel to other provinces, and the cost of training, many families missed out on opportunities to train. The traditional training approach is insufficient for the needs of parents who are dealing with their children's increasing emotional and behavioral issues. As a result, our division created Net PAMA, or Internet-based Parent Management Training. Net PAMA is divided into two courses: Double Down Course and Intensive Course, from which participants can select the course that best suits their needs. Furthermore, through Net PAMA, we have improved our ability to assist families with internet access issues in developing their parent management skills.

Targeted group:

Net PAMA is intended for parents, teachers, employees or staff in the children and teenage industry, as well as anyone who is interested.

• To create an efficient online training program equals to the traditional child behavior adjustment training.
• To increase awareness and assessment of the Parent Management Training through Net PAMA program.
• To decrease the difficulty to access the Parent Management Training through Net PAMA program for people who have limitation to internet access.

           The development and expansion of the Net PAMA Classroom, a program designed to enable everyone to access parenting lessons without any cost through www.netpama.com, has been ongoing. However, after a year of implementation, it has been found that many learners still face limitations in accessing the internet, both in terms of network stability and the cost of internet services; some also lack the necessary devices for internet access. Therefore, there is a plan to expand the program's impact through training sessions for personnel in the public and private sectors who work with children, youth, and their families to become Net PAMA Facilitators. These sessions will equip them with skills and knowledge to effectively disseminate the Net PAMA program to parents within their communities, ensuring equitable access to the Net PAMA Classroom. This effort aims to increase opportunities to access knowledge and parenting skills, foster mental health, nurture positive relationships, and mitigate severe family conflicts.

          Net PAMA is a project supported by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation in 2018 to develop and design the core content of positive parenting courses for online learning. The objective is to assist parents in implementing appropriate behavioral techniques, fostering good family relationships, and equipping them to address their children's behavioral issues. The project is led by Assoc. Prof. Chanvit Pornnoppadol, Chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, along with a team of child and adolescent psychiatrists, pediatricians, and psychologists who continuously develop and improve the content.

            Prior to being transformed into an online course, Net PAMA originated from the "Positive Parenting Management Training (PMT) Courses", which had been conducted by the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital for more than 20 years. These onsite training sessions consisted of 8 sessions and accommodated up to 30 parents per session. However, due to parents' inconvenience in attending or completing the training, Net PAMA was then developed to better suit the lifestyles of modern parents. This online platform allows parents to conveniently study from their computers or smartphones by simply registering as a member via www.netpama.com, completely free of charge.

There are 2 courses to choose from:

• Intensive Course: Suitable for parents with limited time who need guidance on addressing their children's specific behavioral issues. By selecting their child's behavior from the provided options, the system will evaluate and provide suitable video clips for their behavior, and they can start learning immediately. Each clip takes approximately 30 minutes.
• Full Course: This course consists of 6 comprehensive lessons covering all techniques for managing children's behavior. Topics include fundamental factors in behavioral adjustment, communication, reinforcement, punishment, and scoring techniques. Each lesson features lectures by child psychiatrists, case studies, games, practice exercises, and homework to help parents master these skills confidently. Each lesson takes approximately 1:30 hours to complete. Upon finishing all 6 lessons and the associated homework, participants will receive a certificate.

           Since the website's launch in August 2020, over 12,000 people have registered, with 1,895 completing the full 6-lesson course, averaging about 600 participants per year, which is 4 times more than the traditional onsite training format (150 participants per year). An additional 3,826 participants have completed all lessons in the accelerated course (as of March 20th, 2024).

           However, upon field investigations, it was found that the majority of parents in both urban and rural areas still face limitations in accessing the internet and smartphones. Therefore, there is a plan to expand learning opportunities for these disadvantaged parents by establishing 'Net PAMA Classrooms', supported by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation in 2022. This initiative aims to establish Net PAMA classrooms and train facilitators to enhance the capacity of personnel working in child and family development, both in governmental and non-governmental organizations, to disseminate positive parenting knowledge using the Net PAMA program as a learning medium. Since October 2022, 281 facilitators have been trained, and 41 Net PAMA classrooms have been established in 27 provinces nationwide. A total of 452 parents have graduated from Net PAMA classrooms, and statistical analysis comparing pre- and post-learning positive parenting skills assessments shows a significant increase (pre-learning 39.63 points, post-learning 41.48 points, P <0.001).

           For 2025, a series of online and offline activities and communications will be continuously implemented, including:

1. "When children want to play but parents are unavailable—how to communicate effectively?" (January 21^st, 2025)

2. "When a child gets angry and hits a friend—how to prevent it from happening again?" (February 28^th, 2025)

3. "How to handle situations when a child argues or resists?" (March 12^th, 2025)

4. "When a child refuses to go to school—how to help them feel comfortable attending?" (March 31^st, 2025)

5. "What is autism? Why do people say I am special?" (April 8^th, 2025)

6. "This school break, if not screen time—what should children engage with instead?" (April 28^th, 2025)

7. "Children aren't being defiant—they just want their voices heard and understood" (May 30^th, 2025)

8. "When a child asks for expensive items—what should parents do?" (June 26^th, 2025)

9. "When children don't want to go to school—how should parents respond?" (July 15^th, 2025)

10. "Raising resilient children in a harsh society" (August 7^th, 2025)

Awards:

• “Prime Minister's Award for Health Promotion Innovation 2022” on November 10th, 2022.
• Thailand Public Service Awards (TPSA) 2023 from the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC) on September 7th, 2023.
• “Team Good Practice Award" from the "Mahidol Quality Fair 2023” on November28th, 2023.

           The Net PAMA Project aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by emphasizing positive parenting, enhancing parental capacity, and supporting quality child development:

• SDG 3: Promoting appropriate child development in both physical and mental health, and supporting the mental well-being of both children and parents

• SDG 4: Providing interactive learning courses for parents, both online and offline, to foster lifelong learning

• SDG 5: Encouraging both fathers and mothers to share responsibility in childcare and upbringing, reducing the traditional notion of burdening one parent

• SDG 10: Expanding access to knowledge for families in remote areas or with limited internet connectivity through "Net PAMA Classrooms," ensuring equal and cost-free opportunities to access resources

• SDG 16: Reducing violence against children in families through positive parenting and strengthening the family as the foundation of a peaceful and resilient society

• SDG 17: Mobilizing multi-sector collaboration to expand the project to communities and provinces across the country