In this research, an attempt was made to verify that K-MBSR can have a positive effect on enhancing well-being and self-compassion of female high school students as an alternative to and a practice method of character education in the era of character education.
For verification of this thesis, we have followed the following research procedure.
The 8-week K-MBSR Program employed in this research was reconstructed in such a way that it was made more suitable to adolescents. Target students who wanted to participate in this K-MBSR Program were recruited from female high school students attending XX High School. Of these students, a total of 26 students were selected and divided into two groups, experimental group and control group, 13 students being allocated to each group on the basis of random allocation. Implementation period of this program was from March 12 to April 30, 2015, having a session of experiment per week for 90 minutes, resulting in a total of 8 sessions.
The control group did not have any treatment during the same period, but a pre-test and a post-test were carried out at the same time with the experimental group that underwent the K-MBSR Program. And for verification of the effect of this research, such measuring tools as Well-being Scale (SWBS) and Self-Compassion Scale (K-SCS) were used.
As a result of research, the experimental group that underwent the K-MBSR Program revealed a significant rise in well-being and self-compassion in comparison to the control group in all variables. Therefore, we could confirm that the level of mindfulness for the experimental group was enhanced due to the K-MBSR Program as it had a positive effect on well-being and self-compassion of female high school students.
The significance of this research lies in that it implemented this kind of research with female high school students who are suffering from diverse and sensitive psychological problems as target, when considering the fact that K-MBSR Program was seldom applied to a research that has been carried out with the adolescents as target into consideration. At this point in time when the Character Education Improvement Law was passed, it is our belief that the K-MBSR Program can well hold the prominent position as the most suitable character education program for nurturing moral human beings as well as a practical method of and an alternative to genuine character education that can ameliorate the confusion in current education.