Why do the Rural Elderly Lack a Sense of Meaning in Life:Analysis from the Perspective of Whole-Person Structure of the Meaning in Life
From a unique perspective of paying attention to the spiritual needs and development of clients,spiritual social work provides an opportunity to respond to rural older people's demand for experiencing and pursuing their sense of meaning in life.On the basis of the whole-person model of spirituality and the structure of meaning in life,a whole-person analysis model of meaning in life composed of meaning cognition,meaning pursuit and meaning emotion has been built.Based on this model,through the in-depth interview and participant observation,it is found that the lack of sense of meaning in life of rural older adults is mainly manifested in three aspects:negative cognition of meaning,passive pursuit of meaning and emotional loss of meaning.Further analysis shows that the cognition of meaning in life is obscured by the loss of self-worth,the pursuit of meaning in life is restrained by social identity crisis,and the emotion of meaning in life is torn by the obstruction of social participation.Their respective development dilemmas as well as their mutual disturbances and conflicts hinder the integration functioning of the system of meaning in life and intensify this sense of the rural elderly.
lack of meaning in lifeintegration of meaning in lifemeaning in liferural elderly