Fengkan Zhu
Published: 2019
Total Pages: 352
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Academic institutions in the United States (U.S.) have witnessed a rapid growth of the population of international students from China in the past decade (Institute of International Education, 2017). As sojourners, Chinese international students can experience numerous acculturative stress in the U.S., which may cause psychological distress (Han, Han, Luo, Jacobs, & Jean-Baptiste, 2013; Mori, 2000; Pedersen, 1997). However, there is a significant disparity in mental health care for this population at American universities (N. Zhang & Dixon, 2003; Robertson, Holleran, & Samuels, 2015). Most existing studies in this field were quantitative studies. However, quantitative method has its own limitations in investigating the essence and meanings of subjective experiences of individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate Chinese international students' acculturative experiences in the U.S. and to present their coping strategies of acculturative stress. This study also investigated co-researchers' perceptions of counseling services on campus and their experiences with the services if they had used them. Specifically, this study used two rounds in-depth semi-structured individual interviews to collect data and applied the transcendental phenomenology (Moustakas, 1994) in data analysis. Textual descriptions were developed to describe what co-researchers experienced in acculturation in the U.S. as well as their perceptions of counseling and experiences in counseling. In addition, structural descriptions were developed to explain how these experiences and perceptions were formed. Finally, a synthesis description was created, representing the group as a whole, to describe the meanings and essence of these co-researchers' acculturation experience in the U.S., their perceptions of counseling services, and their experiences in counseling. The findings of this study are congruent with previous research and have implications for clinical practice and further research with Chinese international students in the U.S.