The Effects of Meditation Practice Approaches by Integrating Satipatthana 4 and SKT1 on Mental Ability, Self-awareness and Academic Achievement of Nursing Students

Abstract

           The objective of this research is to examine mental abilities, self-awareness and academic achievements of second year nursing students at Saint Louis College. We designed a quasi-experimental study with pre- and post-test. The volunteered subjects were assigned to either control or treatment group using the matching strategy based on the pre-test scores. While both treatment and control groups undertook the same course, the treatment group also enrolled in meditation practices. We collected and measured the first two outcomes—mental abilities and self-awareness—with the evaluation forms. The test reliability of mental abilities was assessed with KR-20 with a coefficient of 0.98. The self-awareness test was validated by three experts and assessed with Cornbrash’s Alpha with 0.90. The last outcome, academic achievement, was simply measured with the cumulative grade point average (GPA). The data were analyzed with a series of paired t-tests and presented with descriptive statistics.

            The result revealed the significant difference in mental abilities and self-awareness between the two groups. Specifically, the treatment group had significantly higher average score of mental abilities and higher self-awareness (p<.05). We, however, did not detect the significant improvement in academic achievement. This suggests that the mediation practice technique—an integration of Satipattana 4 and SKT1 is effective in improving student’s emotion and self-confidence. All of which are desirable characteristics of 21^st-century students.

            We note the needs for the longitudinal study to further investigate the effects of the meditation practices on student’s performance, as well as the needs to apply the meditation practices to help students adjust to the context of higher education.