긍정심리 기반 예술치료가 중년여성의 플로리시에 미치는 영향 = The Effects of Positive Psychology-Based Art Therapy on Flourish in Middle-Aged Women

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In the context of the rapid development of artificial intelligence and a constantly changing environment, individuals are increasingly required to reconstruct the meaning of life and maintain sustainable psychological well-being. Human-specific emotional experiences, creativity, relationships, and self-reflective abilities are becoming more important than ever. The ultimate goal of positive psychology is flourish, a state in which well-being and happiness of both body and mind fully thrive. Middle-aged women, who experience physical aging and the re-establishment of personal identity, need opportunities to identify their character strengths and positive resources and to experience well-being and flourish in their daily lives.
However, research on positive psychology–based art therapy using innovative and multifaceted approaches remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of positive psychology–based art therapy and art programs on flourish in middle-aged women, focusing on character strengths, positive and negative emotions, resilience, positive psychotherapy, and the autonomic nervous system.
This study employed the explanatory sequential mixed-methods design within Creswell’s mixed-methods research framework to promote an integrated understanding of the research findings. In the first quantitative phase, 56 middle-aged women were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 28), which participated in a positive psychology–based art therapy program, or a control group (n = 28), which participated in a positive psychology–based art program. Both groups attended sessions once a week for 90 minutes over a total of 10 sessions. Quantitative data were collected before and after the intervention to measure character strengths, positive and negative emotions, resilience, positive psychotherapy, and flourish-related indicators of the autonomic nervous system. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) WIN version 28.0, with significance levels set at p < .05, p < .01, and p < .001.
In the second qualitative phase, eight participants from the experimental group were purposefully selected to obtain a deeper and more integrated interpretation of the quantitative results. Phenomenological analysis was
conducted using session-specific activity sheets, in-depth interviews, and projective drawing tests (K-HTP and PPAT).
The results of the study are as follows.
1. Both the experimental group that participated in positive psychology based art therapy and the control group that participated in the positive psychology–based art program showed significant improvements in flourish after the intervention. In addition, a statistically significant interaction effect was found between group and measurement time. These findings indicate that positive psychology–based art therapy is effective in enhancing flourish among middle-aged women. A detailed analysis of the effects on flourish is presented below.
1-1. Character strengths improved in both groups after the intervention; however, the increase was greater in the experimental group that participated in positive psychology–based art therapy than in the control group. These results indicate that positive psychology–based art therapy is effective in enhancing character strengths in middle-aged women.
1-2.1. Positive emotions increased significantly in the experimental group compared to the control group at post-test. This finding suggests that positive psychology–based art therapy is effective in enhancing positive emotions in middle-aged women.
1-2.2. Negative emotions decreased in both groups after the intervention; however, the reduction was greater in the experimental group than in the control group. These results indicate that positive psychology–based art therapy is effective in reducing negative emotions in middle-aged women.
1-3. Resilience increased in both groups following the intervention, with a greater improvement observed in the experimental group than in the control group. This finding demonstrates that positive psychology–based art therapy is effective in enhancing resilience among middle-aged women.
1-4. Positive psychotherapy improved in both groups after the intervention; however, the experimental group showed greater gains than the control group. These results suggest that positive psychology–based art therapy is effective in enhancing overall positive psychological functioning in middle-aged women.
1-5. Autonomic nervous system activity changes in autonomic nervous system activity indicated improved autonomic balance in both groups, as reflected by increased sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity and decreased stress resistance. Notably, parasympathetic nervous system activity increased significantly in the experimental group, demonstrating the effectiveness of positive psychology–based art therapy. In both groups, autonomic nervous system–related indicators showed improvement at mid-test and post-test, with greater changes observed in the experimental group. In particular, a significant main effect of group was found for positive emotions (F = 16.229, p < .001), indicating that positive psychology–based art therapy had a significant positive effect on positive emotions in middle-aged women. The main effect of negative emotions was not statistically significant (F = 0.881, p > .05). However, qualitative analysis revealed differences in the mechanisms of change and coping strategies between positive and negative emotions. In addition, a significant main effect of group was observed for parasympathetic nervous system activity (F = 4.571, p < .05).
2. Qualitative results analysis of qualitative data regarding the experiences and meanings of middle-aged women who participated in positive psychology–based art therapy yielded three core themes, four overarching categories, and thirteen subcategories based on participants’ activity sheets and in-depth interviews.
The three core themes were awareness of positive resources, internalization of positive emotions, and practice of positive behaviors. The four overarching categories included changes in character strengths, changes in positive and negative emotions, changes in resilience, and changes in positive psychotherapy. The thirteen subcategories reflected participants’ experiences of recognizing and evaluating their representative strengths positively, meaningful moments during art therapy activities, engagement with art therapy themes and media, mindfulness meditation experiences, gratitude-based activities, insights gained through group counseling, connections between personal strengths and daily life, and perceived benefits of art therapy in everyday functioning.
Overall, this study confirmed that positive psychology–based art therapy has a positive effect on flourish in middle-aged women by enhancing character strengths, emotional well-being, resilience, positive psychotherapy, and autonomic nervous system regulation. These findings suggest that positive psychology–based art therapy and art programs can serve as effective intervention methods for promoting flourish in middle-aged women. In particular, the study demonstrated that positive psychology–based art therapy facilitates the internalization of positive emotions, which influences parasympathetic nervous system activity and contributes to increased positive emotions. Therefore, positive psychology–based art therapy can be considered a valuable intervention for enhancing flourish in middle-aged women.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 목 차 ⅰ
• 표 목 차 ⅴ
• 그림목차 ⅷ
• Ⅰ. 서 론 1
• 1. 연구의 필요성 1
• 2. 연구의 목적 5
• 3. 연구의 가설 8
• 4. 용어 정리 9
• 5. 연구의 제한점 12
• Ⅱ. 이론적 배경 13
• 1. 긍정심리학 13
• 2. 플로리시 16
• 1) 플로리시와 웰빙 이론 16
• 2) 플로리시 조작적 정의 28
• 3. 긍정심리치료 39
• 4. 예술치료 42
• 5. 중년여성 45
• 1) 중년여성의 개념과 특성 45
• 2) 중년여성의 플로리시 필요성 47
• 3) 중년여성 대상 긍정심리 예술치료 선행연구 49
• Ⅲ. 혼합 연구 방법 54
• 1. 연구 설계 54
• 1) 혼합 연구 54
• 2) 혼합 연구 설계 및 연구 절차 55
• 2. 양적 연구 59
• 1) 연구 설계 및 방법 59
• 2) 양적 연구 대상자 60
• 3) 윤리적 고려 62
• 4) 측정 도구 63
• 5) 자료 분석 69
• 6) 긍정심리 기반 예술치료 70
• 7) 긍정심리 기반 예술프로그램 81
• 3. 질적 연구 83
• 1) 연구 설계 및 방법 83
• 2) 질적 연구 대상자 84
• 3) 회기별 활동지 및 심층면담 구성내용 86
• 4) 자료 수집 방법 87
• 5) 자료 분석 88
• Ⅳ. 연구 결과 89
• 1. 양적 연구 결과 89
• 1) 연구 대상자의 인구통계학적 동질성 검증 결과 89
• 2) 집단 간 사전 동질성 검증 결과 91
• 3) 긍정심리 기반 예술치료 효과 검증 94
• (1) 성격강점 효과 검증 94
• (2) 긍정 및 부정 정서 효과 검증 96
• (3) 회복탄력성 효과 검증 98
• (4) 긍정심리치료 효과 검증 99
• (5) 자율신경계 효과 검증 108
• 2. 질적 연구 결과 112
• 1) 긍정심리 기반 예술치료가 플로리시에 미치는 의미 구성요소 112
• 2) 긍정심리 기반 예술치료가 중년여성의 플로리시에 미치는 의미에 대한 상황적 구조 기술 116
• 3) 동적 집-나무-사람(K-HTP) 그림 검사 분석 135
• 4) 사과 따는 사람(PPAT) 그림 검사 분석 145
• 5) 질적 연구 분석 결과 155
• 3. 양적 및 질적 연구 통합 분석 결과 158
• 4. 가설 검증 162
• Ⅴ. 고 찰 163
• 1. 양적 연구 고찰 164
• 2. 질적 연구 고찰 172
• 3. 양적 및 질적 통합 고찰 179
• Ⅵ. 결론 및 제언 181
• 1. 결 론 181
• 2. 제 언 186
• 참 고 문 헌 187
• ABSTRACT 197
• 부 록 202
• 감 사 의 글 218