The Bridge Working Group
The promotion of wellness in the quest for a good and valuable education faces unprecedented challenges in the US and beyond in the age of globalization. Beyond the complicated issue of immigration, the number of foreigners who come to the US to study and undergo vocational training has been continuously increasing. Consequently, educational institutions are both welcoming of academically proficient youth from abroad and overwhelmed by the complex and challenging wellness issues that accompany these incoming international students. For example, our group is completing a study of academic cheating behavior by international students who enroll in U.S. universities from across a range of countries. Even immigrant families with wealth and social capital are baffled in regard to the proper way to raise their children in a cross-cultural context, and society is challenged to deal with the issues that these newcomers bring in terms of language, communication, cultural understanding, diversity, and equity.
To confront these challenges, our lab is funded to work collaboratively with the psychiatry department at Mass General Hospital on launching a multidisciplinary working group to support individuals and families challenged by cross-cultural realities. For example, studies led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) psychiatrists at the Center for Cross-Cultural Student Emotional Wellness have investigated ways of improving the treatment of depression in Chinese American immigrants.This group will support cross-cultural students and their families in their transition to their new social and academic environment, foster interdisciplinary discussions, provide grants to scholars, and help deliver mental health services to international students and their families. We hope this group will make a difference by building bridges among cultures, academic disciplines, research, and practice.