Abstract:
To study effects of Buddhist personal growth and counseling group on altruism of first-year university students and to investigate psychological experiences concerning altruism of the students who participated in the group, through quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data was obtained through the quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest control group design. Twenty-eight first-year students whose scores equal to or were below - 0.5 SD on Altruism Scale were assigned to 2 experimental groups and 2 control groups, each group comprising 7 participants. The experimental groups participated in Buddhist personal growth and counseling group for 6 sessions, a session of 3 hours, 3 sessions per day, for 2 consecutive days, which made approximately 18 hours. During the pretest, posttest and 2-week follow-up studies, all participants completed the altruism scale. A two-way ANOVA repeated measures, one-way ANOVA repeated measures and the t-test were used for data analysis. The qualitative data was obtained through the semi-structure interview with 5 participants from the experimental groups. The major findings are as follows : 1. The posttest and 2-week follow-up scores on altruism of the experimental group are higher than its pretest scores at .05 level of significance. 2. The posttest and 2-week follow-up scores on altruism of the experimental group are significantly higher than those of the control group. 3. The qualitative analysis of the data indicate that after participated in Buddhist personal growth and counseling group, the group experiences help members expanding their state of mind which facilitating their understanding, accepting and realizing the value of themselves and others, their willingness to help others and enhancing their altruistic behavior. The warm and trusting relationships facilitating by the group leader can be the initial factor enhancing the altruism among the group members.