scholarly journals Difficulties of social networks building in international medical students: a qualitative study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuping Li ◽  
Guangyu Lu ◽  
Zhengbing Wang ◽  
Jingyan Liang ◽  
Bingchun Yan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The number of international medical students studying in China has largely increased over the past decades. However, few studies have addressed the difficulties that the international medical students face and there is a dearth of information on understanding the difficulties these students confront during their social integration in host countries. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the international medical students’ difficulties to build social networks during their studying overseas. Methods: This study was designed primarily with the aim of enhancing understanding of the International Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students’ difficulties in social networks building. 26 MBBS students from year-3 and year-4 were asked by the question: what are the difficulties to establish the social networks you face? Thematic analysis was conducted by MAXQDA. Results: The result of the individual interviews revealed that language barriers, (lack of) communication skills, personality factors, intercultural differences and study pressure were key factors that hindered the MBBS students’ adaptation to the Chinese culture and social networks building in China. Conclusions: This study reveals several potential coping strategies which could promote the social inclusion and cultural integration of the MBBS students, including providing interactive language training programs, organizing diverse programs enhancing intercultural communication, maintaining strong support networks and endeavoring the MBBS students to actively engage themselves in their learning and living environments. In conclusion, the provision of interactive learning environments, diverse social network opportunities and, moreover, maintaining social support and nurturing cultural integration, would greatly promote social integration and benefit international medical students.

Author(s):  
Fabiana Espíndola Ferrer

This chapter is an ethnographic case study of the social integration trajectories of youth living in two stigmatized and poor neighborhoods in Montevideo. It explains the linkages between residential segregation and social inclusion and exclusion patterns in unequal urban neighborhoods. Most empirical neighborhood research on the effects of residential segregation in contexts of high poverty and extreme stigmatization have focused on its negative effects. However, the real mechanisms and mediations influencing the so-called neighborhood effects of residential segregation are still not well understood. Scholars have yet to isolate specific neighborhood effects and their contribution to processes of social inclusion and exclusion. Focusing on the biographical experiences of youth in marginalized neighborhoods, this ethnography demonstrates the relevance of social mediations that modulate both positive and negative residential segregation effects.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahyná Duda de Almeida ◽  
Paula Mendes Santos ◽  
Gabriela Lopes Angelo ◽  
Suélen Alves Teixeira ◽  
Ana Cristina Oliveira

Objective: While the process of social inclusion have promoted respect for the person with mental disability, the stigma against this individual is still very present in society, so that individual identified from their difference, now identified as being a weak, fragile and sometimes abnormal and identified as someone with a determination that can break barriers, even the difference. Considering that the social integration of individuals with disabilities still means a great challenge for society, this study sought to discuss issues related to targeted assistance to the population with mental disabilities within this integration process. The way society perceives and relates to people with disabilities is a repetition of the speech and behavior of its own professionals and programs involved in social integration and rehabilitation of these individuals.Conclusion: The educational institutions of human resources, and assistance programs aimed at the disabled, need to promote reflections on the densest kind of discourse and practices used in everyday life of these people and their families. They should not act based on rejudice.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
MA. Ilir Bejta ◽  
MSc. Elvira Fetahu

It is like a circle, using business to build social integration and using social integration to increase competitiveness in the labour market for the Albanian ethnic immigrant minorities, increasing as well their human capital capacities, especially bridging transnational on domestic products and brands in order to make it easier for those to internationalize. Consequently, it will valorise their social position in the societies they live and work.This paper addresses and analysis, as well as evaluates the role entrepreneurship has on the social development and social integration of the ethnic immigrant minorities and the increase of their attractiveness in the international labour market.The paper addresses also the reasons and factors impacting the emerging of ethnic immigrant entrepreneurship worldwide and in EU. It analyzes their role on the world entrepreneurship and economic system, the actual situation of ethnic immigrant minorities, their social networks and organizations emerged due to their role as a new force and human capital in these markets. In this framework, being a transnational bridge on the internationalization of their home country products and culture, the Albanian ethnic immigrant entrepreneurship, as the main focus group of this study, can increase its possibilities to be more competitive in the labour market.Economic integration induces immigrants to increase contacts and be part of economic networks and  social networks too, as well as improve, as a necessity deriving from the economic competition, their human capital capacities and capabilities getting use of international labour market. Considering economic and human capital development we will measure their impact on the social welfare and integration of the ethnic immigrant minority groups in the modern society (Albanians in Province of Milan, Italy).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Clark

The term 'welcoming community' has arisen within the field of immigration studies as a concept that seeks to address ways in which communities welcome and integrate immigrants. This paper explores the concept of a welcoming community and its impact on the social integration of immigrants to smaller centres, specifically to the City of St. John's in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, using a social inclusion framework. Through an examination of the integration policies and programs undertaken in the Province and how immigrants interact with these services. I find the elements of a welcoming community exist in St. John's and that immigrants' frequency and intensity of contact with institutions that directly support settlement is high in St. John's. However, it is premature to conclude, given the recent implementation of the immigration policy in the Province and low numbers of contacts made with other institutions, that St. John's is a welcoming community and that this translates into successful social integration.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Clark

The term 'welcoming community' has arisen within the field of immigration studies as a concept that seeks to address ways in which communities welcome and integrate immigrants. This paper explores the concept of a welcoming community and its impact on the social integration of immigrants to smaller centres, specifically to the City of St. John's in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, using a social inclusion framework. Through an examination of the integration policies and programs undertaken in the Province and how immigrants interact with these services. I find the elements of a welcoming community exist in St. John's and that immigrants' frequency and intensity of contact with institutions that directly support settlement is high in St. John's. However, it is premature to conclude, given the recent implementation of the immigration policy in the Province and low numbers of contacts made with other institutions, that St. John's is a welcoming community and that this translates into successful social integration.


Author(s):  
Ludmila Rosca ◽  

In the article, the looks into different possibilities of social integration of people, social groups, pointing to the cause of marginalization – the low level of culture, communication capacity, selfknowledge. Regardless of the social status of the person: poor, employed, unemployed or immigrant, social inclusion is stimulated by the individual’s interest in knowing, acting, and manifesting himself. Social integration can and must be stimulated by state institutions, as well. Otherwise, dissatisfaction among the marginalized will lead to destabilization of the political system and social conflicts. The social integration of immigrants is a way of mitigating the social crisis that has occurred in European countries. The key objectives of the investigation are: to analyze the challenges to the security and instability of the political system of the European States; to define social integration and inclusion as a factor of the dynamic stability of the political system; to interpret marginalization as a destabilizing factor; to analyze the social integration of immigrants through knowledge and communication.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk

A shortage of social capital may hinder sustainable development. According to the “social capital dream” there is a virtuous circle between participation in social networks, trust, and cooperation. It is a promising idea for proponents of sustainability, as it is easier to promote participation than affect social norms. Participation may, however, lead to particularized and not generalized trust, which hinders social inclusion and undermines the idea of a sustainable society. The aim of this paper is to validate the role of participation in informal and formal social networks in enhancing social trust and respect towards others. The relevance of both strong and weak ties is considered. Fixed-effects modeling on three-wave data from a Polish social survey is utilized. An increase in generalized trust corresponds with an increase in the acquaintances network, a decrease in the family and friends network, and an increase in volunteering. A rise in expectations about the cooperativeness of others is enhanced by an increase in the family and friends network, and by volunteering. The lack of respect for some groups of people is not affected by participation in organizations and informal networks. Overall within-person heterogeneity is small, suggesting that possibilities for fostering moral trust by participation are limited.


Author(s):  
Anne Herrmann-Werner ◽  
Florian Junne ◽  
Felicitas Stuber ◽  
Daniel Huhn ◽  
Christoph Nikendei ◽  
...  

Medical students, and especially international medical students (IMS), have been shown to experience more psychological distress than the general student population in Germany. In order to address these issues, a structured Tandem Program (TP) to reduce stress and foster social integration of IMS has been introduced at the Medical Faculty of Tuebingen. The Tandem Program was evaluated prospectively with perceived stress (PSQ-20) as the main outcome. Secondary outcomes were ‘motives to participate’ in the TP, ‘specific stressors’, and ‘experiences made’ during the program. Stress levels of IMS at the beginning of the program (t0) (M = 48.14, SD = 11.95) were higher than those of German participants (M = 39.33, SD = 8.31) (t (67) = −3.66, p < 0.001). At the end of the TP (t1), stress levels of international students were significantly lower than at t0. “Improved ability to work in a team” was seen as one of the most beneficial factors. The results indicate that tandem programs at medical faculties may be a promising curricular intervention towards reducing stress levels, improving integration of international students, and to enhance intercultural and team-oriented competencies in both international and national medical students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-232
Author(s):  
Chengcheng Song ◽  
Chao Zhang

Abstract Using hierarchical linear models, this article examines how factors at individual and policy levels influence public attitudes towards the social inclusion of children with special needs based on data collected from 1,602 samples and second-hand data in five cities. It is found that individual and policy factors have varying impacts on relationship support, social support, and public support for the social inclusion of children with special needs: (1) individuals who once gave help to children with special needs express strong support; (2) government policies may have a crowding out effect, that is, greater intensity of child policies may lower public support for the social inclusion of children with special needs; (3) different policies may interfere with each other, that is, child policies and disability policies may have the opposite effects on people’s attitudes towards public support for the social inclusion of children with special needs.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document