Research on the Usage Types and Psychological and Spiritual Responses of Users of Cultural Arts and Cultural Contents

Objectives: This study addresses the mental and psychological conditions that arise from using cultural arts and cultural contents by leisure over-indulgers in South Korea. We attempt to understand whether using cultural arts and cultural contents can be more engaged and utilized if provided in an experiential, spectating, or lecture, and contribute to the mental health of similar countries in Asia. Methods: Our participants were adults (N=301) highly engaged with cultural and artistic content for more than 4 hours a day. Results: Those involved in cultural properties should provide psychological and behavioral information on the learnability, value, and other aspects of cultural properties through development of brochures, animations, characters, and documentaries to tell people more about cultural assets. Performers need to enhance the emotional impact, satisfaction, and realism by providing screen footage to help them see and understand the performance better, and by showing what the actors cannot express through video. Festival organizers need to identify and create festival themes that adults can relate to, and provide them with experiences that allow them to engage in mentally healthy behaviors. Those involved in the game should provide hedonic values such as self-efficacy, interest, and mental satisfaction by providing game competitions through TV, online, YouTube, and SNS media and communities. Finally, one should ensure that cultural arts and contents can be used so that the psychological and spiritual behaviors of hyper connectedness can occur. Conclusions: South Korea is developing an industry centered on the development and sale of cultural arts and content. However, there is little research to date on the mental health, psychological state, and usage behavior of adult users.