Examining the effectiveness of mindfulness based exercise program on university students' psychological well-being and life satisfaction

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based exercise program on university students' psychological well-being and life satisfaction. The dependent variables of the study were psychological well-being and life satisfaction. The independent variable of the research was the mindfulness-based exercise program. In the study, an experimental method with experimental (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test) and control group (pre-test and post-test) was used. The study group consists of 60 students (30 in experimental group and 30 in control group) continuing their education in different faculties of a foundation university in the 2020-2021 academic year during the Covid-19 pandemic, 48 were female and 12 were male. The age range of the participants in the experimental and control groups was between 18 and 27, and the average age was 21.40. In the study, a personal information questionnaire, Psychological Well-Being Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale were used to collect the data. At the end of the study, an education evaluation form was applied to the experimental group. As part of the study, an 8-session psycho-education program was applied to the participants in the experimental group, and no study was conducted for the participants in the control group. The Mindfulness-Based Exercise Program was implemented in the experimental group, once a week, for 90 minutes each, in 8 sessions. The measurement tools used in the research were pre-test before the implementation of the psycho-education program, and post-test after the completion of the program. In order to determine the permanence of the program's effect, it was applied only to the experimental group as a follow-up test three months after the post-test. "Mann Whitney U", "Friedman ANOVA" and "Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test" and Bonferroni correction were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, a significant difference was found between the psychological well-being post-test total scores of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. A significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups according to the results of the post-test scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of the psychological well-being scale, namely environmental mastery, personal growth and purpose in life. According to the results of the post-test scores obtained from the positive relationships with others and autonomy sub-dimensions of the psychological well-being scale, no significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups. There was no significant difference between the psychological well-being post-test and follow-up test total scores of the university students in the experimental group. Similarly, no statistically significant difference was found between the post-test and follow-up test scores of positive relationships with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and self-acceptance sub-dimensions. A statistically significant difference was found only between the post-test and follow-up test scores of the individual development sub-dimension. There was no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the control group from the total score of psychological well-being, its six sub-dimensions, and life satisfaction. As a result of the study, it was found that university students who participated in the 8-week mindfulness-based exercise program had a significant effect on increasing their psychological well-being and life satisfaction levels compared to the students in the control group, and as a result of the follow-up study, this effect continued in a positive direction. The findings obtained as a result of the research were discussed in the light of the relevant studies in the literature. Suggestions were made for the practice and researchers. Keywords: Mindfulness, psychological well-being, life satisfaction, psycho-education, exercise, exercise psychology