Exploring factors influencing cross-cultural adaptation of non-Filipino SVD missionaries in the Philippines

• Main Author: Quadros, Sebastian
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2006
• Subjects: Society of the Divine Word > Missions > Philippines; Missionaries > Philippines; Missionaries; Counseling
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3436; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/10274/viewcontent/CDTG004174_P__1_.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This descriptive exploratory study was conducted to find out whether the socio-demographic factors and the SVD formation programme influence the cross-cultural adaptation of non-Filipino SVD Missionaries in the Philippines using mixed method (quantitative and qualitative). In the quantitative approach, all 61 non-Filipino SVD missionaries, working in the different regions of the Philippines were the participants in the study. For the qualitative portion, nine (9) missionaries composed of three who scored high in CCAI test, three average scorers and three low scorers were subjected to the semi-structured interview. The Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) test was administered to them to find out their cross-cultural adaptability. Descriptive as well as inferential statistics (mean, SD, ANOVA or F-test, the Pearson Product Moment correlation and t-test) were employed to analyze the quantitative data. Results showed that among the eight socio-demographic characteristics, nationality, length of stay, region of work, and seminary graduated were found to significantly influence cross-cultural adaptability of SVD missionaries in the Philippines. Age and cross-cultural adaptability, length of stay and cross-cultural adaptability tend to have inverse relations. While nationality and Emotional Resilience were positively associated same as with level of education and Personal Autonomy. However, region of work and type of work were found to have no significant relationships with cross- cultural adaptability. Year of graduation was positively related to the Emotional Resilience and the Perceptual Acuity while seminary graduated was negatively related to the Perceptual Acuity. In the qualitative results, the missionaries viewed the SVD Formation Programme of the Cross-Cultural Training Program (CTP/OTP), and Language Learning, and the Sharing Missionaries Experiences as very useful in their cross-cultural adaptation in the Philippines. They highly recommend these programs for future SVD missionaries. There is a need to enhance those factors that significantly influence cross-cultural adaptability, and a thorough investigation/analysis must be done on factors that are significantly associated, whether positively or negatively, with the four scales of cross-cultural adaptability.