Encountering Selves and Others: Finding Meaning in Life Through Action and Reflection on a Social Service Learning Program

Abstract

T his article describes how a college social service learning centre at a Catholic university created an opportunity for researchers, college students and elementary school teachers to learn about meaning in life together, through a social service learning program in Taiwan. The participants' involvement benefitted their learning, indicating that the meaning in life perceived by the younger generation has changed in response to the context of an evolving Chinese culture, and that participants constrained their callings by developing realistic plans consisting of goals emphasised in traditional Chinese culture. Challenges were identified: specifically, the participants' callings did not directly reflect the lessons that they learned through involvement in the program, and implementing the service program as a one-time activity limited its effect on the participants' ability to find meaning in life. Future development of the service program was discussed, based on the lessons learned through this action research. Keywords: meaning in life, social service learning, action researchNumerous psychologists have recently emphasised the importance of developing positive psychological traits. How people positively apprehend their experiences and construct meaning in life has been discussed in the context of Western culture (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000;Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006). Finding meaning in life increases a person's confidence, ability to cope with stress, and happiness (Chaudhry, 2008). Kronman (2007) stated that people construct distinct meanings in life based on their backgrounds, including their endowments, life stages, and cultural environments. However, few studies have described how young people in Eastern culture, which focuses on collectivism, find and conceptualise meaning in life during their time in college (Zhang, Dik, Wei, & Zhang, 2014). College years constitute a critical time for reflecting, creating, examining, and reconstructing meaning in life, but a substantial amount of evidence has indicated that students are bored, or merely driven by courses and credentials, and do not reflect on life experiences to find meaning in life (Damon, 2008;Kronman, 2007;Nash & Murray, 2009). Therefore, this study provides insight into how college social service learning centres, professors, college students, and elementary school Address for correspondence : Yuling Su, Department of Child and Family Studies, Fu Jen Catholic University, No. 510 Zhongzheng Rd., Xingzhuang District, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan. Email: yulings@mail.fju.edu.tw teachers in a community can work and learn together in a social service program in an East Asian society. We used the social group via internet platform (SGIP) in Taipei, Taiwan as an example, and describe how the top-down style of action research (Kemmis, 1988) is effective for people to find life meaning in a college campus. We reflect on the action research process and participants' experiences, which empowered the participants and facilitated future d...

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