The Obstacle Is the Way: Communication Sciences and Disorders Student Perceptions of a Meaningful Work Seminar

Purpose: Motivated by rising demands placed on allied health professionals, the health care industry is moving toward the inclusion of training and educational initiatives that foster clinician well-being by foregrounding a sense of resilience, purpose, and meaning making in student clinicians. This study examines conceptions of flourishing and meaning in life in eight undergraduate communication sciences and disorders students enrolled in a Meaningful Work seminar incorporating concepts and practices rooted in ancient Greco-Roman philosophy. Method: A social constructivist paradigm was utilized to understand how students construct meaning through interaction with seminar content. Upon seminar completion, students completed Likert scale measures concerning their conceptions of meaning in life, meaningful work, and thriving, retrospectively gauging how their perceptions of meaning and quality of life changed after the seminar course. Students also completed a semistructured interview and created a portfolio representing their philosophy of work. Analysis of difference scores was utilized for rating scale responses, and reflexive thematic analysis was conducted for the interviews and portfolios. Results: Difference score analysis indicated that students perceived the seminar's philosophical content as contributing to their personal growth and their ability to engage meaningfully with their work as aspiring clinicians. Thematic analysis indicated that students identified multiple key ideas and strategies discussed in the seminar that were grounded in the empirical and philosophical literature pertaining to meaning in life, which emerged as cornerstones of their personal philosophies of meaningful work. Conclusions: Students employed several strategies and principles to make sense of their experiences that helped them develop a more coherent understanding of why they chose to pursue clinical practice, how they find meaning in it, and the implications for their futures. The authors conclude that student-reported changes can be understood through the lens of the philosophy and psychology of wisdom, emphasizing conceptual skills necessary to enact excellence in decision making and understanding of the pragmatic aspects of life.