Culture shock among undergraduate international students at Makerere University: prevalence, associated factors, and impact.

Abstract

Background: Understanding Culture shock existence among undergraduate international students will provide a baseline evidence upon which appropriate interventions by responsible stakeholders will be employed to reduce its accompanying negative effects. Objective: The general objective of the study was to determine the prevalence, factors associated and impact of culture shock among undergraduate international students at Makerere University. Methodology: This was a quantitative cross- sectional study aiming at determining the prevalence, associated factors and Impact of culture shock among undergraduate international students at Makerere University. Self-administered online questionnaire was distributed among international Students from all colleges and schools of Makerere University between 1st November to 2nd December 2021 for their participation. The sample size of 384 was required but only 315 entries were obtained in this survey. Of these, 8 were excluded during cleaning (4 were Ugandans, 4 had lived in Uganda longer than 5 years before joining campus). A response rate of 82% was attained and 307 entries qualified for analysis. Data was managed using STATA version 15.0 and the findings were presented to the Department of Nursing, Makerere University. Results: Overall, 153(50%) participants had moderate culture shock while 129 (42%)participants and 24(8%) participants had mild, and severe culture shock respectively. The overall mean culture shock score was 10.1± 3.3(Total score: 20). Major factors influencing culture shock were language barriers(p<0.001), lack of previous exposure to other cultures(p=0.008), rural origin(p<0.001), and staying alone in host country(p<0.001). Equal frequency of positive and negative impact (n=137, 45.5%) on academic performance was reported, however, Majority (n=195, 63.7%)of participants reported hardships in their social interactions during their first year in a foreign land and later on adapted but a significant number (n=100,32.7%) reported a negative impact throughout. Conclusion and recommendations: Despite a high proportion of international students showing a positive impact on academic performance and social life, a significant number reported negative impact. Therefore, addressing and controlling factors associated with culture shock by responsible stakeholders such as establishing extra-curricular programs for international students could potentially improve their wellbeing and academic performance while in a foreign land.