Effects of Mission Trip Participation on Social Justice Attitudes and Behaviors

Research on the effects of mission tripson social awareness, attitudes, and behaviors towardssocial justice has been limited. In the current study,we examined whether volunteers going on a weeklongart camp in Guatemala with a non-profit, Athentikos,would show positive changes in their social justiceattitudes and behaviors. Current trip participants (n=6)completed questionnaires before and immediatelyfollowing their trip, whereas trip alumni (n=10)completed questionnaires regarding one previous trip.We hypothesized that participants will report an increasein social awareness as well as feelings about and plans forsocial action immediately following the trip. On average,all variables showed some increase from pre-trip to posttripwith confidence increasing significantly and interestin social justice related activities, evaluation of socialjustice obstacles and support, and empathic awarenessshowing trends towards statistically significant increase.Overall, trip attendees showed correlations within anumber of positive social justice attitudes and behaviors.