This research was motivated by the awareness that increasing number of fat kids who have mental and physical imbalance and stress became a social problem in the developed and civilized society. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of t...
This research was motivated by the awareness that increasing number of fat kids who have mental and physical imbalance and stress became a social problem in the developed and civilized society. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the body-awareness centered Yoga program on obese elementary school children's body-image, self-esteem and stress. In order to achieve the goal of this research, the following hypotheses were established:
1. The treatment group who are participating in the body-awareness centered Yoga program will form a positive body image than the control group.
2. The treatment group who are participating in the body-awareness centered Yoga program will improve their self esteem than the control group.
3. The treatment group who are participating in the body-awareness centered Yoga program will be under less stress than the control group.
To verify these hypotheses, this study investigate 30 elementary students who had slight obesity among fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in "D" elementary school in Busan. The students were divided into two groups, 15 students for the treatment group and 15 for the control group. The program used for this study was reconstructed to suit for the slightly obese children according to the previous studies, guidebooks, and experts' advices. In this study, the treatment group took 40minutes Yoga program in the morning, twice per week for 12 weeks.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed Yoga program, a body-image test, a self-esteem test and a stress test were conducted before and after the program in the treatment group and the control group, respectively. For the statistical analysis, the mean, standard deviation, and reliability analysis of variances in the questionnaires were calculated, and ANCOVA was used. In addition, a contextual analysis was used through the children's comments that contains their impressions and were collected three times after the Yoga class.
From the body-awareness centered Yoga program, the following analysis results were conducted:
First, the improvement of the body-images in the treatment group was significantly higher than the control group (F=13.33, P<.01). It supported that the proposed Yoga program was effective to improve the body-images for the obese children.
Second, the improvement of the self-esteem in the treatment group was significantly higher than the control group (F=5.09, P<.05). It suggested that the Yoga Program was effective to improve the self-esteem for the obese children.
Third, the proposed Yoga program provided the obese children with some positive effects to decrease the stress, but it was not significant.
In conclusion, this study found that the body-awareness centered Yoga Program had a positive effect on the body-images, self-esteem and reduced stress of the obese children who were less physically active than the normal children by awaring the change of their body-images. Thus, it is expected that this study contributed to the obese children related studies that were rarely conducted in previous researches though the practical program for conducting the body-awareness centered Yoga program, the analysis method for supporting that the proposed Yoga program was significantly effective, and the findings for the characteristic of the counseling factors.