• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.223-241
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• 2011

The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of an autobiography writing program as a method of education for older adults. The authors participated in the processes of all 10 sessions of the autobiography writing program as instructors or program assistants at a senior welfare center in Seoul, 2007. Data used for analysis were learners' narrations in class, written autobiographies by learners, and researchers' memo-notes. We analyzed their narrative flows using Haenninen(2000)'s theory of narrative flow and reconstructed their categories of activities as life histories. 'The innen narration' constructed by learners was a spiritual process in which they have imbued their life and living conditions with meaning. The learners reminisced their lives as 'unreflective narration' in the beginning of education. However, as the class went on, they gradually reminisced them as "reflective narration" and finally developed them as 'meta-reflective narration' through the intentional reflection. Likewise, we could interpret the transition of learners into meta-reflecter as the completion of ego-integration. As a conclusion, we found the effects of the autobiography writing education for older adults in educational, social, and psychological aspects.