Journal of Korean Society for People, Plants and Environment 2012;15(2):67-71.
Published online April 30, 2012.

원예활동이 결혼이주여성의 사회적 적응과 부부관계에 미치는 영향

김종희(Jong Hee Kim), 윤숙영(Suk Young Yun), 최병진(Byung Jin Choi)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to confirm the effects of horticultural activity on the social adjustment and marital relationship of immigrant women in multicultural families. For this purpose, horticultural therapy was applied to 16 married immigrant women in multicultural families (8 in the control group and 8 in the experimental group) who were supported by D Multicultural Family Support Center. The horticultural activity program was designed to include various activities reflecting the immigrant women’ native culture so that it may contribute to the stabilization of multicultural families, help immigrant women adjust themselves to Korean culture, and improve their mental health and marital relationship. In addition, the horticultural activities aimed to form social consensus in the immigrant women and give confidence in the acquisition of new knowledge. Furthermore, the outcomes of such activities were intended to be utilized as media of communication between husband and wife. The horticultural activity program was executed once a week and a total of 16 sessions during the period from April 16 to August 6, 2010. After the horticultural activity, the participants were assessed for their satisfaction with marital relationship using a marital relationship scale, for social adjustment using a social avoidance and discomfort scale. In the results of assessing the subjects’ marital relationship before and after the horticultural activity, the control group showed a slight decrease from 51.75 to 50.38, but the experimental group showed a significant improvement in their marital relationship from 49.00 before the horticultural activity to 55.25 after. In the results of assessing their social avoidance and discomfort, the control group showed an increase from 12.00 to 14.38, but the experimental group showed a significant decrease from 13.00 before to 10.13 after, suggesting that horticultural activities reduced the subjects’ social avoidance and discomfort markedly. As mentioned above, when a horticultural activity program was applied to immigrant women in multicultural families, it provided them with positive experiences, and ultimately, improved their marital relationship and helped their effective adjustment to Korean society and culture. If various horticultural activity programs are developed and applied and they may ease immigrant women’s cultural shock in Korean society, which is entering into multicultural society, they may contribute to immigrant women’ true assimilation through cultural balance.

KeyWords: Discomfort, Multicultural family, Social avoidance