The Effect of Coloring Mandalas on Anxiety and Attention-Concentration: A Case Study of Freshman Undergraduate Students at One National University
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Abstract
Background: Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. But high levels of anxiety can cause attention-concentration problems and lead to inefficacy in performance. Thus, anxiety reduction is a significant topic to improve attention-concentration ability.
Objectives: To explore the effects of coloring mandalas on anxiety and attention-concentration.
Materials and Methods: This case study was a quasi-experimental research study in 39 freshman students divided into 2 groups: the control and the experimental (coloring) groups. The experimental group attended 8 sessions of mandala coloring activity. Anxiety and attention-concentration scores were measured by the TMHQ-anxiety domain and the Digit Span test in a pretest-posttest format. Descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U Test, and the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test were used in data analysis.
Results: No statistically significant difference was found between pretest and posttest in the anxiety scores of the experimental group. Therefore, we further divided the experimental group into two groups of different anxiety level: a group with normal anxiety and a group with high anxiety. It was found that the anxiety scores of the experimental group with high anxiety levels had statistically significantly decreased in the posttest. Meanwhile, no changes were reported in the anxiety scores of the experimental group with normal anxiety. For attention-concentration scores, we found a statistically significant increase from the experimental group.
Conclusion: The mandala coloring activity effectively reduced anxiety in high anxiety participants and improved attention-concentration in both high and normal anxiety participants.
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References
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