Immersion Trips Research Articles

Transformative Experiences During Short-Term Immersion Trips Abroad: An Examination of MSW Students in Panama and Italy

ABSTRACT Although several studies highlight the benefit of short-term immersion programs abroad among social work students, few studies have examined their transformative nature. In response, this study aimed to describe the transformative change experienced by MSW students from the Southwest USA who participated in a short-term, immersion program in either Panama or Italy. The structure of the program consisted of two components: a 10-week hybrid classroom during the semester and a 12–13 day, short-term immersion program during the summer. Content analysis was utilized to examine student reflections on the impact of the short-term study abroad experience in areas such as cultural awareness and humility, professional and personal growth, and the most impactful and transformative experiences. The results included the following themes: (1) Community, (2) Adaptation, (3) Empowerment/Inspiration/Transformation, &; (4) Culture. Implications for future research in this area are identified along with considerations for educators regarding planning, teaching, and/or leading the in-country experience to best support student transformation in short-term immersion programs abroad.

Leadership competencies developed during a short-term domestic study tour: An exploration of participants’ perceptions

As short-term study abroad tours seek to develop globally competent leaders within the agricultural industry, the rich diversity present within the United States has led to the inception of short-term domestic study tours. To improve how global leadership competencies are developed among adolescent participants, understanding competencies gained during short-term international and domestic cultural immersion trips is vital. This case study analysis sought to explore state FFA officer perceptions of leadership competencies developed through participation in the National FFA Organization’s International Leadership Seminar for State Officers (ILSSO) which pivoted to a domestic study tour for 2022. The findings indicate participants perceived agricultural exposure and networking with peers as the development of leadership competencies. Participants also expressed perspective shifts around agricultural production methods and varied cultural experiences in the state of California. Recommendations include designing leadership curriculum for both short-term abroad and domestic tours with a framework grounded in leadership theory and replicating this study to compare findings in various contexts. Similar studies should also be conducted to assess outcomes of leadership development programs designed by the National FFA Organization.

Undergraduate Medical Education Reform in Viet Nam for a Primary Health Care Workforce.

Strong primary health care (PHC) systems require a robust PHC workforce. Traditionally, medical education takes place in academic medical centres that favour subspecialty care rather than PHC settings. This may undervalue primary care as a career and contribute to a shortage of PHC workers. However, designing undergraduate medical education curricula that incorporate early experiences in clinical care delivery at PHC sites remains a challenge, including in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper describes how a collaboration between Harvard Medical School and five medical schools in Vietnam, and in-country collaborations among the Vietnamese medical schools, facilitated curricular innovation and co-creation of coursework relevant to PHC through the development of a Practice of Medicine (POM) course. The collaboration implemented a technical assistance strategy consisting of in-person workshops, focused virtual consultations, on-site 'office hours', site visits and observations to each of the five medical universities, and immersion trips to support the creation and implementation of the POM course. A pilot program was started at a single site and then scaled nationally using local customisation, experience, and expertise utilising a train-the-trainers approach. As a result, five new POM courses have been developed by five Vietnamese institutions. Fifty Vietnamese faculty received training to lead the POM course development, and 228 community-based preceptors have been trained to teach students at PHC sites. A total of 52 new PHC and community-based clinical training sites have been added, and 3,615 students have completed or are currently going through a POM course. This experience can serve as a model for future academic collaborations to support the development of a robust PHC workforce for the 21st century.

Solidarity as slow conversion

How can insights from the international Slow movement deepen our understanding of moral conversion in the face of injustice? This article proposes an understanding of solidarity with the marginalized as slow conversion, that is, as ongoing conversion to the neighbor that is relational, costly, and enduring. After distinguishing “slow conversion” from what some have termed “epiphanic conversion,” I illustrate the distinction by contrasting two efforts to construct parish-based interracial solidarity in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston during the 1960s: the Roxbury Apostolate, a clergy mission to the inner-city developed from outcomes of a summer urban immersion trip for seminarians, and the St. Mary of the Angels Parish Pastoral Council, a participatory lay advisory board established after Vatican II. While the former initiative articulated a grander vision and more sweeping goals, it was the latter, more mundane structure that ultimately proved to be a source of relational, costly, and enduring solidarity between church and neighborhood. Slow conversion can thus be understood as the work not of a single moment of insight or encounter but the project of a lifetime, sustained over generations through community practices and structures.

Transformation of a Study Abroad Experience Into a Virtual Community Health Clinical.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced nursing faculty to transform an international study abroad service-learning course into a virtual community health clinical experience with a global focus. The course was piloted with seven students who would have completed their community health clinical during a short-term immersion trip to Kenya. Clinical assignments were changed to closely mirror the immersion service-learning experience in a virtual environment. Student feedback reflected positive learning outcomes. This transformation has implications for expanding student opportunities in the virtual environment to gain a deeper understanding of global health.

Transformative Learning in an International Immersion Experience for Nursing and Other Undergraduates.

This qualitative study described the experience of undergraduates in an international immersion experience designed to foster health promotion among rural Ghanaians. Data in the form of students' reflective writings were analyzed in a rigorous process of literal, interpretive, and reflective readings. Two themes (character building and feeling inspired by others) emerged from the data. The findings suggest that this immersion trip facilitated the transformation of the participants and the development of their cultural competence.

Cultural Exposure as a Creative Experiential Learning Intervention

ABSTRACT Counselor education programs often use cultural immersion as a creative pedagogical approach to foster cultural responsiveness. This form of experiential learning can instill and deepen multicultural and social justice counseling competencies. The purpose of this article is to highlight the potential of a domestic immersion experience as a creative experiential learning intervention by outlining one counselor education program’s experience using a brief cultural immersion trip over the course of three years. The author highlights the importance of using experiential learning to instill cultural responsiveness, describes the cultural immersion trip, and discusses applications for counselor education programs seeking to implement a cultural immersion experience.

South Africa and the Black American Imaginary

For the author and photographer of this photo essay—a well-rounded southern woman who has traveled to more than 17 countries—there was something different yet very familiar about South Africa. This essay follows a group on a cultural immersion trip from Cincinnati, Ohio, throughout several cities in South Africa over five weeks.

Call for Collaboration: The Role of Accreditation in the Transformation, Accountability, and Sustainability of Education in Social Determinants of Health.

Call for Collaboration: The Role of Accreditation in the Transformation, Accountability, and Sustainability of Education in Social Determinants of Health.

Health Policy Immersion Experience of Doctoral Nursing Students: A Phenomenological Study

Background: In today’s political environment, there is a significant need for healthcare professionals to be aware of health policy and its impact on practice and the population. Nursing, a respected and trusted profession, has a responsibility to increase its awareness and advocacy efforts to ensure practice and execution of responsible and ethical health policy. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience of doctoral nursing students' (PhD and DNP) engagement in a week-long immersion trip to Washington, D.C. as a requirement of their mandatory health policy course. This immersion trip encompassed participation in numerous activities that focused on health policy, nursing's role in research, and its presence in the political arena. In addition to describing doctoral nursing students' lived experience, the researchers sought to discover how this experience impacts doctorally-prepared nurses’ political awareness and future interest in health policy. Methods: Data were gathered using Google Forms to obtain doctoral nursing students’ experiences after participating in a week-long Washington, D.C. immersion as part of their mandatory doctoral coursework at a Mid-Atlantic college in the United States. The survey was emailed to 43 PhD and DNP students, of which 30 met the inclusion criteria. Demographic data analysis, in addition to thematic analysis of survey responses with the aid of NVivo, were performed. Results: Four themes emerged from the analysis to describe the experience and impact that the week-long Washington, D.C. immersion had on doctoral nursing students: Knowledge and Understanding of the Political Process, Recognition of the Role Professional Nursing Organizations Play in the Political Arena, Empowerment Through Increased Awareness, and Nursing’s Role as an Advocate for the People Conclusion: Through increased knowledge and awareness of health policy, doctorally-prepared nurses may be more inclined to seek and engage in the political arena and actively participate in advocacy efforts to improve health policy and the healthcare system. Keywords: advocacy, doctoral nursing students, health policy, healthcare system, political process

The Use of Tweet-Format Narrative Reflections During a Service-Learning Trip to Appalachia

Background: Tweet-format narratives have been used in medical education to capture student experiences. However, there is a lack of research on tweet-format narratives during experiential learning in nursing education.
 Purpose: The purpose of this project was to explore the usefulness of tweet-format narratives to capture nursing student experiences and to elicit reflection during a service-learning trip.
 Methods: Eight bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) students participated in a service-learning experience to Appalachia. A grounded theory approach with three data collection methods was used to determine the usefulness of tweet-format narratives to facilitate student reflection during the event. A free closed text-messaging app was used to house tweet-format narratives. A focus group session and post-survey were conducted at the conclusion of the trip. Emergent themes from each data collection method were compared and modified using iterative techniques and constant comparison analysis until the data were saturated.
 Results: Focus group responses were reflective in nature and included student elaboration about content themes that were previously identified by the tweet-based narratives. Modification of themes resulted in six final themes of improved skills, cultural competence, patient interaction, socioeconomic factors and health, landscape/clinic setting, and impactful shared experiences.
 Conclusions: It is important for nursing students to reflect on their experiences during service-learning immersion trips, especially as they relate to underserved rural populations and their unique healthcare scenarios. With the growth of social media, more nursing students are accustomed to communicating in a short, text-based format. The tweet-format narratives in the free closed text-messaging app allowed students to reflect on their experiences through open-ended comments and to communicate with other members of the group. Short text-based narratives can be an effective narrative medicine technique for nursing students participating in service-learning trips in rural areas.
 Key words: narrative medicine, rural health, service-learning, technology
 DOI: http://doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v20i2.633

Developing Cultural Humility During Short-Term Study Abroad Immersion

Background: Cultural humility is an essential part of nursing education and practice today. We often teach cultural competence but do not take it further to develop the cultural humility needed for an understanding of being and becoming in today’s global environment. Method: This article describes a ten-day immersive study abroad experience to Mexico using strategies to develop cultural humility. Cultural immersion is a high impact practice and was used along with reflective writing and debriefing. Results: Cultural humility did emerge because of the trip to Mexico. Strategies used to develop this were reflective writings, discussions, debriefing and cultural immersion. These emerged as strong strategies to use in study abroad experiences. Conclusion: Nursing students can develop cultural humility during short-term immersion trips to Mexico. Further study of these strategies are needed to develop further knowledge of cultural humility and its impact on developing culturally congruent health care, reducing health disparities and promoting health equity.

Immersion Learning in Social Work Education: A Pedagogical Tool for Enriching Knowledge and Practice Skills among BSW Students

ABSTRACTImmersion learning is one form of experiential education and has great utility in social work education. However, there is limited research on student learning outcomes from immersion learning courses in social work education. This ethnographic research describes an immersion learning course offered to BSW students (N = 9) and the learning outcomes gained. This semester-long course focused on macrolevel practice with people experiencing poverty, homelessness, and the sexual exploitation of women. As part of this course, students went on a weeklong immersion trip, where they visited a dozen human service organizations and interacted with people experiencing poverty and homelessness. Qualitative analysis produced three findings. First, students reported that these interactions helped them realize their biases and impacted their understanding of poverty. Second, students reported enhanced social work practice skills, such as cultural competency, self-awareness, and interpersonal expertise. They also gained a better appreciation for macrolevel practice. Third, students reported a better understanding of how to deploy classroom knowledge in practice and how to apply what they learned back in the classroom. These findings have implications for undergraduate social work education and how immersion learning programs can be a tool for enriching both knowledge and practice skills.

Cultural Immersion Trip to Southeast Asia: A Study of Cross-Cultural Intelligence

ABSTRACTThe primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate the execution of a successful short- term study trip to Southeast Asia and its influence on a student’s cultural intelligence. This article discusses an academic component of an international study trip that was developed for sophomores at a private university in the New England region of the United States. In an attempt to internationalize, the university led students on a 2-week international trip to Malaysia and Singapore known as the Sophomore International Experience. The authors have developed a model that combines an academically rigorous curriculum that juxtaposes domestic events/experiences with those of the foreign country and propose that the trip gives students first- hand international experience that prepares them to develop a global perception. The article evaluates the validity of the proposed theory with the help of the Cultural Intelligence Scale that measures significance improvements in cultural intelligence after taking the trip.

Primary Contextualization of Science Learning through Immersion in Content-Rich Settings

This paper reports on a study of primary contextualization processes during science immersion trips and the resultant student learning. Four High School Ecology classes (n = 67) and teachers participated. Through a pre-/post-assessment of science concept knowledge (Pathfinder Network Modeling) and follow-up interviews with students, it was determined that (1) significant learning was associated with these immersion experiences, though overcontextualization was problematic for some, (2) there was a positive interaction between degree of contextualization (primary vs. secondary) and degree of learning, and (3) key primary contextualization processes included the situating of knowledge in time and place as well as the collection of personalized visual or embodied evidence for science concepts. The study contributes to our understanding of contextualization in the learning process and has the potential to inform field, classroom, and virtual learning environments.

Fostering intercultural understanding through secondary school experiences of cultural immersion

In parallel with many nations’ education policies, national education policies in Australia seek to foster students’ intercultural understanding. Due to Australia’s location in the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian government has focused on students becoming “Asia literate” to support Australia’s economic and cultural engagement with Asian countries. Drawing on Allport’s optimal contact principles and key factors supporting intercultural understanding, this study examines two “sister school” cultural immersion trips in Indonesia and East Timor to explore ways in which their different approaches supported positive intergroup contact and helped foster intercultural understanding among students. Focus groups and interviews with school project teams and analysis of both researcher and teacher project field notes and documents suggested that these schools’ programmes could be mapped onto Allport’s contact principles in different ways. The paper concludes with promising approaches that can help to inform sister school programmes.

Mission as Prophetic Dialogue: A Case Study from Colombia

Over the last 100 years we have seen dramatic changes in the ways that Christian churches have approached mission. In the United States, mission is now dominated by activities such as short-term immersion trips, church-to-church global partnerships, young adult volunteer programs, or lay mission programs that send individuals or families for temporary assignments. In this context of rapid change, Steve Bevans and Roger Schroeder published their groundbreaking work, Constants in Context, which provides guidelines for mission—summarized by the term prophetic dialogue—that acknowledge that Christianity is by its nature mission-oriented, and that the nature of our mission must take into account centuries of wisdom and at the same time modify itself with changing times. Based on a case study in Colombia, this article proposes that the practice of international accompaniment in zones of violent conflict is an example of prophetic dialogue in practice, and thus can serve as a model for other twenty-first-century mission activities.

A Spanish Language and Culture Initiative for a Doctor of Pharmacy Curriculum

To implement a Spanish language and culture initiative in a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum that would improve students' Spanish language skills and cultural competence so that graduates could provide competent pharmaceutical care to Spanish-speaking patients. Five elective courses were created and introduced to the curriculum including 2 medical Spanish courses; a medical Spanish service-learning course; a 2-week Spanish language and cultural immersion trip to Mexico; and an advanced practice pharmacy experience (APPE) at a medical care clinic serving a high percentage of Spanish-speaking patients. Advisors placed increased emphasis on encouraging pharmacy students to complete a major or minor in Spanish. Enrollment in the Spanish language courses and the cultural immersion trip has been strong. Twenty-three students have completed the APPE at a Spanish-speaking clinic. Eleven percent of 2010 Butler University pharmacy graduates completed a major or minor in Spanish compared to approximately 1% in 2004 when the initiative began. A Spanish language and culture initiative started in 2004 has resulted in increased Spanish language and cultural competence among pharmacy students and recent graduates.

The Impact of Immersion Trips on Development of Compassion among College Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible enhancement of com-passion in college students as a result of participating in community-basedlearning immersion trips. In two separate experiments, a total of 123 collegestudents were given a series of questionnaires immediately before and afteruniversity-sponsored immersion experiences to measure compassion andrelated constructs. In Experiment I, 19 participants on college immersiontrips as well as 20 comparison students not attending immersion trips wereevaluated. In Experiment II, the same questionnaires were administered to45 immersion participants and 39 comparison students. Results of Experi-ment I suggest that immersion participants had higher posttrip empathyscores and less stress. In Experiment II, results indicate a significant increase in compassion scores among students who participated in an immersion experience compared to those who did not. Because community -based learning seeks to increase student and community engagement andconnection to those in greatest need, it is likely that compassion and related constructs such as empathy are nurtured through these now popu-lar experiential learning opportunities.

The Impact of Immersion Trips on Development of Compassion Among College Students

The Impact of Immersion Trips on Development of Compassion Among College Students