earticle

영어

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of psychodrama to improve the psychological happiness of freshmen in university. The subjects include freshmen at H University that gave consent to participate in this study. They were assigned to the treatment group of nine and the control group of 12. Total eight sessions of psychodrama were provided to the treatment group. A psychological happiness inventory was administered both to the treatment and control group in a pre- and post-test. The treatment group was asked to write an experience report and fill out an inventory of therapeutic factors in the last session of the program in order to analyze therapeutic factors. An independent-sample t-test was conducted to analyze quantitative data, and Giorgi's phenomenological method was used to analyze the experience reports in terms of quality. The findings were as follows: first, psychodrama was effective for increasing the psychological happiness of freshmen in university; secondly, the biggest therapeutic factor of the program was the group atmosphere, which was followed by interactions, life force, new perception and understanding, expansion of ego, emotional purification, and satisfaction of needs in the order; and finally, the study conducted qualitative analysis of the participants' experience reports and identified several therapeutic factors including emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes in the dimension of individual experiences and interactions, immersion and learning, and structures and images formation in the dimension of collective experiences. The study also discussed the ways to make use of its findings and suggestions for follow-up study.