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pp.95-99
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of creative horticultural activities on low-income class children’s self-esteem and stress coping behavior. For this purpose, 10 children were sampled from low-income class children using H Community Child Center in K City, and creative horticultural activities were applied to them two sessions a week and a total of 12 sessions from July 4 to August 22, 2014. Based on the factors of creativity in horticultural activities, creative horticultural activities were designed to induce fluency through learning the importance and use of plants, flexibility through observing the growth of plants, originality through breeding plants, elaborateness through decorating with plants, and sensitivity through classifying plants. Ultimately, the activities were designed to induce positive changes in low-income class children’s emotional development. For understanding the effectiveness of the creative horticultural activity program, this study assessed the children before and after the creative horticultural activities using a self-esteem scale and a stress coping scale. The results of assessment were as follows. First, the children’s self-esteem level was enhanced significantly from 27.9±3.9 before the activities to 30.7±2.3 after on the average. Their stress coping behavior was improved significantly from 49.0±5.6 before the horticultural activities to 54.3±5.2 after. In particular, significant changes were observed in active coping behavior and socialsupport- seeking coping behavior. These results suggest that creative horticultural activities for low-income class children have positive effects on their emotional development.
