A Study on Emotional Healing Efficacy of Movies for Undergraduate Students Suffering Breakups in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Wei-Ni Yeh, 葉瑋妮
• Other Authors: Chen Su-may Sheih
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/23235896235001444583

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 圖書資訊學研究所 === 99 === This study focuses on the emotional healing efficacy of movies for undergraduate students, with topics including: (1) to describe breakup experiences and emotional disturbance problems among undergraduate students, (2) to understand the emotional healing efficacy of cinematherapy on undergraduate students suffering from the effects of breakups, (3) to analyze which scenes and elements of the movies effectively generate emotional healing, and (4) to investigate which factors influence the emotional healing efficacy of the movies on the students. This study implements a qualitative approach, employing an in-depth interview focusing on 14 undergraduate students suffering from breakups. In the study, half of the participants had initiated the breakup, while the others had been the passive actor in the breakup. The most common reason for the breakups was an unequal level of attachment between the partners. The most frequently used means of assuaging the negative emotions triggered by the event was seeking some form of social support. The most common emotional disturbance problem among the participants was the feeling of loneliness after the breakup. It was discovered in this study that among the 14 movies used, 11 of them appeared to invoke the identification, catharsis, and insight process in the emotional healing efficacy, and 6 of them showed positive effect on the cognition of transforming specific breakup events. Three factors were found to influence emotional healing efficacy: (1) similarities of backgrounds elements between the participants and those of the characters in the movies, (2) active emotional expressions of the characters in the movies, and (3) problem-solving alternatives exhibited by the characters in the movies. Similarities that influenced efficacy included the appearance and gender of the characters and similarities between the values held by the participants and by the characters. Finally, in accordance to the results of the interview, the researcher concluded the following suggestions to university libraries and student counseling centers: (1) categorize multimedia collections according to emotional disturbance problems that are common among undergraduate students and provide bibliographies annotated with relevant works on emotional healing, (2) provide emotional healing movie bibliographies for undergraduate students on the university librarys’ websites, and (3) use movies that may facilitate emotional healing as a tool for counseling students dealing with emotional disturbance problems caused by breakups.