CAHSS Faculty Articles

Reentry Experiences and Professional Developments of International Marriage and Family Therapy Graduates in Taiwan

ORCID ID

0000-0002-0121-4997, 0000-0002-3982-6884

Publication Title

Contemporary Family Therapy

ISSN

1573-3335

Publication Date

3-2018

Abstract

Reentry research has received much less attention than research on cultural adjustment in a foreign country, especially in the marriage and family therapy (MFT) field in the United States. Lack of research on international students’ job experiences and professional developments during reentry does not provide further information to evaluate the quality of MFT education in the United States. This study was intended to extend the reentry literature and specifically to understand personal and professional reentry experiences and cross-cultural transformation of MFT returnees in Taiwan. Thirteen participants were interviewed, and the resulting data was analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. Analyses results demonstrated macro contextual factors that situated unique personal and professional reentry phenomena for international MFT graduate in Taiwan. The returnees strived to explore their MFT identity and interpret cross-cultural differences by developing four coping strategies (e.g., not wanting to fit in, doing what you were supposed to do or could do, processing with others, and therapists’ multicultural awareness) that were associated with three conditions, such as personal networks linking to professional networks, supervision, and training in MFT. Findings suggested that reentry adaption was varied and fitting into Taiwanese society might not be the final goal for the returnees. Training implications in the MFT field were provided based on the findings.

DOI

10.1007/s10591-018-9464-z

Volume

40

First Page

380

Last Page

393

Link to Full Text
Peer Reviewed

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