Promoting Well-Being and Psychological Thriving in University Students: A Gestalt-Mindfulness-Based Personal Development Counseling Intervention — Oak Academic Publishing
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Promoting Well-Being and Psychological Thriving in University Students: A Gestalt-Mindfulness-Based Personal Development Counseling Intervention
Counseling Center, Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece
,
Department of Economics and Sustainable Development, Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece
1 Counseling Center, Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece
2 Department of Economics and Sustainable Development, Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece
The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a Gestalt-based “personal development” counseling group could have positive effects on psychological prosperity. The intervention group aimed to increase the participants’ level of awareness. The program consisted of 10 sessions and employed mindfulness practice as a gestalt experiment. The study involved 208 undergraduate students, aged 18 to 22 years, using a pretest-posttest control group design. One hundred forty-eight (148) participants participated in the intervention program , while sixty (60) of them formed the control group. The Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS 21), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), and Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) were used to assess students’ well-being. The pretest-posttest scores of the intervention group showed statistically significant differences, while the pretest-posttest results of the control group showed no statistically significant changes. The results showed that the Gestalt-based mindfulness intervention aimed to improve awareness levels, increase the participants’ emotional intelligence, decrease depression, anxiety, and stress, and promote their well-being. Moreover, these results could help support students’ academic lives through counseling group interventions.
KeywordsMindfulnessCounselling GroupEmotional IntelligenceStressCollege Students
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