Cultural Empathy in Action: The Impact of Cultural Empathy on the Adjustment of International Students in Canada
Creators: Zhang, Ying Shan Doris
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2023

<p>While studying abroad can be a transformative experience that can enrich students’ personal and professional lives, navigating a new culture can also make their lives quite challenging. This dissertation investigates the role of cultural empathy in promoting intercultural effectiveness among international students, and how cultural empathy ultimately contributes to their cross-cultural transitions and adjustment and well-being. To this end, I use a mixed-methods approach to (1) present a measure of cultural empathy that addresses some of the shortcomings identified in previous conceptualizations and measurements, (2) examine the associations between cultural empathy and the life experiences of international students, particularly in academic and social domains, and (3) explore how empathic understanding and connections could be cultivated between international students and host nationals by focusing on the collective nature of hope, particularly through the hopes we harbour for another person’s future wellness (other-oriented hope). Chapter 1 provides a review of literature on the sojourning experience of international students, and discusses the potential of cultural empathy in promoting positive intercultural interactions, and supporting international students during their sojourn. In this discussion, I noted several shortcomings with the way in which cultural empathy has been conceptualized and assessed. Notably, previous assessments of cultural empathy either had questionable face validity without explicitly considering the context of intercultural interactions, and/or overlooked a crucial aspect of empathy: perspective-taking. I maintain that cultural empathy necessarily includes cross-cultural awareness, perspective-taking, empathic feelings, and empathic expressions when interacting with people from a different culture. Building on this revised conceptualization of cultural empathy, Chapter 2 (Study 1 and 2; n = 1955) presents the Intercultural Empathy Index, and provides an evaluation on its psychometric properties. Reflecting the cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions of empathy, the IEI assesses each of the newly articulated dimensions in the context of cross-cultural interactions. The findings provided evidence on the reliability and construct validity of the IEI. Chapter 3 (Study 3) examines whether greater cultural empathy enhances the adjustment well-being of 213 international students by increasing their intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in the host domain, as well as whether other-oriented hope might be associated with cultural empathy. Although significant positive correlations were observed among other-oriented hope, cultural empathy, ICC, and psychosocial adaptation, the study was unable to establish temporal associations between these variables. The results indicate that although cultural empathy and ICC may facilitate international students’ adaptation to the host country, they are not significant determinants of adjustment well-being over time. This finding does not negate the possible benefits of cultural empathy and ICC in fostering intercultural effectiveness, but suggests cross-cultural adaptation as an individualized and complex process that may depend on a variety of factors beyond cultural empathy and ICC. Chapter 4 (Study 4) extended the investigation of the relations between other-oriented hope and cultural empathy. It involved an interactive workshop that focuses on hope-based conversations centered on shared experiences, with the aim of fostering intercultural understanding and empathic connections between international students and host nationals. Drawing upon participant feedback, this workshop shows promise in building positive interpersonal and intercultural interactions that are founded on a deepened sense of understanding and empathy, and contributes to the development of practical strategies for enhancing positive cross-cultural interactions and relationships. In Chapter 5, I discuss the contributions of this dissertation in advancing our knowledge about cultural empathy, and the ways in which it could help to support the sojourn of international students. As well, I propose an agenda for future research concerning the role of cultural empathy in promoting intercultural effectiveness and positive intercultural journeys.</p>