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A Study on the Experience of Participating in a Temple Stay-based Smoking Cessation Meditation Program: Focusing on Smoking Addiction

Kangsuk Shon

Journal of Meditation based Psychological Counseling December 31, 2024 DOI: 10.12972/mpca.20240014 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Sample size 23
Population Smokers participating in a temple stay-based smoking cessation meditation program
Intervention Temple stay-based smoking cessation meditation program
Topics Addiction Meditation
Key findings Participants reported that the temple setting and meditation, particularly breathing techniques, helped them quit smoking. The program's unique characteristics were categorized into 19 categories across 8 areas, with sub-areas highlighting the temple's role and meditation's benefits.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively confirm the experience of participating in a temple stay-based smoking cessation meditation program. The research questions of this study are as follows. First, what motivated you to participate in the temple stay-based smoking cessation meditation program? Second, what helped this temple (Guryongsa) in quitting smoking? Third, how did meditation help in quitting smoking? For this purpose, a temple stay-based smoking cessation meditation program was conducted on 23 smokers, data was collected using written questionnaires, and the collected results were analyzed using CQR-M (Consensual Qualitative Research-Modified). As a result of examining the unique characteristics of the temple stay-based smoking cessation meditation program and analyzing the experiences of participants to provide a differentiated smoking cessation meditation program, 19 categories were derived in 8 areas. Second, as a result of examining the areas in which the temple (Guryongsa Temple) helped people quit smoking, two sub-areas were identified: ‘the fact that the program was conducted in a special place called a ‘temple’’ and ‘the advantages of a ‘temple’-based program’. Third, as a result of examining the areas where meditation helped to quit smoking, two sub-areas were derived: ‘Meditation itself helped to quit smoking’ and ‘How ‘breathing’ helped to quit smoking’. The significance of this study is that by conducting a program in a ‘temple’, it presented a new approach to solving addiction by presenting meditation, a Buddhist practice, in the physical space of the temple and the internal space of the mind.