Short-Term Study Abroad and Emotional Intelligence Development

Background and Purpose

With over 29 active wars (Ploughshares, 2017) and an interconnected global community, social work higher education faces the compelling challenge of preparing practitioners to work with communities affected by conflicts. Short-term study abroad courses and international field placements are offered as a way to engage students in global communities and build their critical thinking abilities for tomorrow’s challenges. While these learning experiences are clearly transformative, very little research has been done to examine the impact they have on social work students’ leadership development. Emotional intelligence is one way to measure students’ personal growth and leadership development. It represents “a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this to guide one’s thinking” (Salovey and Mayer, 1990, p. 186).  While study abroad  courses are a great opportunity for fostering emotional intelligence, there is limited literature addressing this very subject. This study explores the impact of a eighteen-days study abroad program on the development of emotional intelligence among graduate and undergraduate students. Additionally, the study uses structured reflections to explore how social work students saw their learning experience abroad.

Methods

A concurrent mixed methods design was used to explore student’s experience.  The convenience sample of BSW and MSW students enrolled in the course was fairly homogenous in gender (88.9% female) and race/ethnicity (66.7% white), yet it had a wider age variation (19-39).  Emotional intelligence was measured by a pre- and post-test TEIQue-SF Version 1.5, a validated 30-item instrument.  The analysis included a paired sample t-test and descriptive statistics were analyzed for participant demographics, the scale, and items. Structured reflections were assigned before and after traveling to reflect upon their self-awareness, challenges, growth, and overall experience.  Thematic analysis was used to extract codes and explore changes in all five levels of EQ.

Results

The TEIQue-SF Version 1.5 was found to have good internal reliability on the pre- and post-test (a= .836/.873). Despite not finding a significant increase in emotional intelligence, several items showed noticeable increases and other stayed consistent or even decreased.  The greatest increase in emotional intelligence was observed among BSW juniors.  Hypotheses for the observed changes will be discussed. Analysis of 24 reflective papers identified 5 key themes.  Preliminary results indicate that, through living in a post-war community, even for short time, students begin to confront their own realities, limitations and prejudice,  and become more inclusive of different views that question their personal assumptions and realities in which they live. More importantly, students appear to begin shaping a sense of pluralism, question their upbringing, and build on the ability to work in dissonant and unequal environments. The implications for practice, teaching and research are also explored.

Conclusions and Implications:

Our findings indicate that emotional intelligence increased with participation in the study abroad course.  Despite not finding significant increases in quantitative findings, qualitative data suggests several areas of growth, while informing future research. 

References:

Salovey, P. & Mayer, J.D. (1990).  Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, Cognition, and

            Personality , 9, 185-211.