An Autobiographical Narrative Inquiry into the Mediation Experiences of a School Violence Relationship Improvement Mediator

This study applied an autobiographical narrative inquiry method to conduct an in-depth exploration of the meaning of the mediation experience of a school violence mediator. Field texts comprising the researcher’s personal journals, reflection notes, and case reports were collected over the past five years. The collected field texts were first composed into interim texts through a process of “Telling,” which narrates the researcher's experiences chronologically. Subsequently, these were reconstructed into research texts through “Retelling,” a process of reinterpreting the meaning of experiences based on relevant theories and prior research. The findings of this study yielded three core themes: “Taking Off the Mask of a Problem-Solver,” “The Tension and Tightrope Walk between Restorative Ideals and Institutional Reality,” and “Constructing Reflective Practice and Relational Ethics Through Internal Turmoil.” The rigor of the research was ensured through continuous consultation and review with qualitative research experts and peer researchers. In its conclusion, this study discusses the process of the mediator's identity being reconstructed from that of a “problem-solver” to a “wounded jealer,” and presents the significance of the research in terms of the personal, practical, and social justifications inherent to narrative inquiry. Finally, suggestions for future research are proposed based on the limitations of this study. To address the challenges of generalizability arising from its basis in a single researcher's experience and the exclusion of other participants' perspectives, this study suggests the need for future qualitative research involving diverse mediators or multifaceted case studies that include the voices of all stakeholders. Furthermore, it proposes longitudinal research to track the professional development process of mediators, thereby providing clearer insights into a multidimensional understanding of the mediation experience.