Participatory Health Impact Assessment in Thailand: Health Impact Monitoring of the Lam Takong Wind Power Project (Phase 2)

This participatory action research, employing a cross-sectional quantitative survey combined with qualitative methods, aimed to (1) assess the health impacts of the Lam Takong Wind Power Project (Phase 2) using the six-step Health Impact Assessment (HIA) framework, (2) analyze the social determinants of health (SDH) in the project-area community, and (3) develop participatory recommendations to prevent and mitigate health impacts. A stratified random sample of 353 residents from three villages in Khlong Phai Subdistrict, Sikhio District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand, was selected. Qualitative data were collected from 30 purposively selected key informants. Instruments included a structured interview questionnaire, the WHOQOL-BREF-THAI quality of life scale, the Thai Happiness Index, the Suan Prung Stress Test (SPST-20), and a noise-and-visual-annoyance scale adapted from the NAS-Scale, together with a focus-group discussion guide. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data, while content analysis was applied to qualitative data. Results showed that most residents had a moderate overall quality of life (68.3%), a poor psychological quality-of-life domain (55.2%), below-average happiness (51.8%), and moderate stress (71.1%). Noise annoyance was reported by 74.8% of residents, and 51.6% reported sleep problems. Low income (68.5%), primary-level education (44.5%), and general-labor occupation (47.6%) emerged as the predominant social determinants of health. The six-step participatory HIA process generated community-endorsed recommendations, including real-time environmental monitoring, mental health programs, a joint EGAT community working group, and biannual health surveillance. These findings, interpreted as associations rather than causal effects given the cross-sectional design, underscore the socioeconomic vulnerability of communities near wind power projects and demonstrate that participatory HIA can generate context-appropriate, community-endorsed measures to protect health, with particular relevance for low- and middle-income countries that currently lack post-implementation health surveillance for wind energy projects.