Marvin J. Westwood

Academic achievement and social adaptation among international students: A comparison groups study of the peer-pairing program

Abstract This study investigates the possible relationship of academic achievement, drop-out rates, and aspects of social adjustment among international students who have participated in a peer-pairing program compared to matched samples who did not. The study was conducted over a four-year period in two countries in order to increase level of confidence in the findings. The results reveal that overall achievement rates are higher and drop-out rates lower for those who participated in this matching program of first-year students with host national students.

Optimising conditions for learning sociocultural competencies for success

Abstract Culturally different recent immigrants and sojourners lack familiarity with the social values, roles, and rules governing interpersonal relationships and this may hinder the attainment of their goals for career and educational success in the new country despite their qualifications and dedication. This paper identifies a number of psychosocial barriers to developing social competence in a different culture, including lack of coaching and practice opportunities, cross-cultural interpersonal anxiety, threat to the newcomers original cultural identity, and various personal factors. The paper further discusses how integrating instructional implications from established models of operant and classical conditioning, and social cognitive learning in a role-based group training program, can address these potential psychosocial barriers and provide optimal conditions for learning intercultural social skills.

Coming Home: A Group-Based Approach for Assisting Military Veterans in Transition

This study is an evaluation of the Veterans Transition Program, a residential, group-based program designed to assist the transition of military personnel back into Canadian society by aiding with their personal and career readjustment. Participants in the program included 18 male soldiers who experienced varying degrees of combat-related trauma. Standard measures of traumatic stress symptoms, depression, and self-esteem were administered to the participants in addition to participant interviews. The measures were administered before, immediately after, and 3 months post-program. Post-program research interviews were conducted and analyzed using the Critical Incident Technique research approach. An overview of the program is presented, along with research results and recommendations to practitioners working with soldiers experiencing trauma-related stress reactions.

Preparing for re-entry; A program for the sojourning student

A visitor to a new country is assaulted by many changes, both environmental and cultural. Expecting things to be different the visitor is shocked by what he/she finds, thus the term ‘culture shock’. A second shock, possibly more traumatic, awaits the international sojourner upon his or her arrival home. The experiences of the returnee typically do not match his or her expectations. Frequently, the individual returning home is not anticipating adjustment difficulties. Compounding the problem is the fact that re-entry has not been widely recognized or researched and thus, little has been done to help individuals to prepare for it.Focusing on international students, who by definition return home, this paper refers to a wide range of social, cultural, political, educational and professional difficulties. The many variables which determine the extent of re-entry shock are identified and discussed. A group program is suggested as one strategy for assisting those about to return home. The results of a pilot study of such a program illustrate how it can be a powerful force to minimize the disorientation and shock of re-entry.This paper serves as a challenge to all those who are responsible or work with international students. Re-entry preparation is also a prerequisite if individuals, institutions, corporations, home countries and host countries are to maximize the benefits and minimize the problems of studying or working abroad.

Therapeutic Enactment: Integrating Individual and Group Counseling Models for Change

The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to a group-based therapy model known as therapeutic enactment. A description of this multimodal change model is provided by outlining the relevant background information, key concepts related to specific change processes, and the differences in this model compared to earlier psychodrama approaches. The model is illustrated through the presentation of a case study. Positive client outcomes are described through a summary of relevant research studies related to the efficacy of this approach. Finally, specific client populations are discussed with respect to suitability.

Youth and culture: A seventeen nation study of perceived problems and coping strategies

JANICE T. GIBSON, MARVIN J. WESTWOOD, F. ISHU ISHIYAMA, WILLIAM A. BORGEN, SUSAN M. SHOWALTER, QASEM AL-SARRAF, SEMIHA A. ATAKAN, ISAURA R.F. GUIMARES, A. LINA GUISTI-ORTIZ, MARGARET ROBERTSON, BENJAMIN SHAFRIR, PETER DE WEERDT, GUNDELINA A. VELAZCO, CAROL E. BAKER, MARIA DIKAIOU, TATIANA GABAY, LINA KASHYUP, ILONA LEE, MARIA E. FELCE DI PAULA, HILLMAN NGUNANGWA & NINA F. TALYZINA University of Pittsburgh, School of Education, Forbes Quadrangle, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA

Evaluating the development of a multidisciplinary leadership team in a cancer‐center

This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a group‐based team leadership development workshop in achieving five objectives. The study is an intrinsic case study using qualitative, semi‐structured interviews. Participants recorded eight categories of shared common experience supporting effectiveness of the workshops in achieving five stated objectives. Interviews were conducted only once, following the workshop limiting the understanding of long‐term effects, and categories of experience were not returned to all participants for validation. Useful information for organizations and consultants involved in developing a multidisciplinary leadership team and maintaining the benefits of a group‐based approach. This study examines a unique case of an organizational development intervention in health care and provides practitioners with insight into the benefits and drawbacks of interpersonal, group‐based interventions.

A culturally embedded model for effective intercultural communication

The goal of this paper is to outline a model of intercultural communication that provides a theoretically rigorous foundation for the training of intercultural workers. This model exists, as any does in a vast field of multiple spatial and temporal, social and political contexts. Primary among those is the increasing migration of people across and into new cultural settings. This can precipitate a range of results from increased interpersonal stress through to an awareness of an increase in the richness of experience with a culturally diverse context. The model presented in this article has been developed in response to what has been perceived as an urgent need to improve intercultural relations in various national and local institutions.

A cross-cultural comparison of East Indian and Anglo-European expectations of counselling

ConclusionThe findings of this paper add support to the view that the expectations of thisminority group appear not to be very different from those of the majority asdominant culture. What is different is the degree to which both adults and adolescentsagree that there should be a family involvement. Further, as the understandingof what minority groups want and how they best can obtain it becomesknown, cross-cultural counselling can become not a separate entity, but one ofshifting attention to the distinct cultural value dimensions which the client bringswith him or her to counselling and utilizing the culturally appropriate methodsrelated to the identified expectations.The noticeable difference between the adolescent groups reflects two differingcultural heritages — the East Indian tendency to see the individual in the contextof the family environment as an explainer of behaviour while the Anglo-Europeanadolescent appearing to not see others (especially the family) as assisting in his/her individual path of decision-making.In being able to adapt our practice of counseling by incorporating culturallyappropriate skills into the counselling process as well as being highly aware of thediffering cultural value systems, we not only help meet the needs of the minorityclient but move another step closer to achieving the ‘cultural expertise’ to whichIvey has referred. The author urges we move quickly to find out the perceptionsof the many other separate cultural groups in order that we have a solid database of expectations from which the counsellor can work.Cultural diversity continues to become an important reality of the westernworld and it is the counsellor who must change to keep pace with the continuingevolution of society to avoid what Gilbert Wrenn (1961) has defined as the encapsulatedcounsellor.

Economic and social changes in the Pacific Rim: Implications for the counselling profession in Canada and Australia

Economic and social changes within the countries of the Pacific Rim are having a significant impact on Canada and Australia. This paper focuses upon what these changes mean for counsellors and counsellor education in these two countries. In addition, aspects of immigration and counsellor responsibility to newcomers is considered along with projected future scenarios related to counselling services.