Journal of Meditation based Psychological Counseling (J Medit Psychol Couns)
Indexed in KCI
OPEN ACCESS, PEER REVIEWED
pISSN 2289-0823
eISSN 2671-6119
Research Article

Effects of the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program on college students’ mindfulness, perceived stress, depression, experience avoidance, and trait anxiety

Professor, Department of Psychological Counseling and Therapy, Konyang University

Correspondence to Ahn, Seyun, E-mail: counsel2005@nate.com

Volume 32, Pages 1-11, December 2024.
Journal of Meditation Based Psychological Counseling 2024, 32, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.12972/mpca.20240009
Received on November 15, 2024, Revised on December 18, 2024, Accepted on December 31, 2024, Published on December 31, 2024.
Copyright © 2024 Meditation based Psychological Counseling Association.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0).

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) programs on mindfulness, perceived stress, depression, experience avoidance, and trait anxiety of college students. Participants in the study conducted the MBCT program from April to June 2024 for 35 students who participated in liberal arts classes at K University in Daejeon. For measurement, the mindfulness 5-factor scale, perceived stress scale, depression scale (CES-D), multidimensional experiential avoidance scale, and trait anxiety scale were measured before and after the program. The research results are as follows. First, the MBCT program was found to increase the level of mindfulness in college students. In particular, among the sub-factors of mindfulness, significant changes were found in observing, non-reactivity, and describing. Second, the MBCT program did not show any change in the perceived level of stress among college students. Third, the MBCT program did not show any change in the level of depression in college students. Fourth, the MBCT program was found to reduce the level of experiential avoidance of college students, and among the sub-factors of experiential avoidance, there were significant changes in procrastination and behavioral avoidance. Fifth, the MBCT program did not show any change in the level of trait anxiety of college students. Finally, the limitations and supplements of this study were presented.

Keywords

College students, MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy), Mindfulness, Perceived stress, Depression, Avoidance of experience, Trait anxiety

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