Expatriate and Spousal Coping and Adjusting (1 CE)

Number of Credits: 1

This course is for:  Clinical Psychologists, Counselors, and LMFTs

Course By: Tracey Thomas, PsyD

Content By:  Chen, Y., & Shaffer, M. (2018). The influence of expatriate spouses’ coping strategies on expatriate and spouse adjustment: An interdependence perspective, Journal of Global Mobility, 6(1), 20-39. doi:10.1108/JGM-07-2016-0032

Course Description: Researchers conducted a study to determine effective coping strategies for expatriate spouses and provide suggestions to multinational organizations. Expatriate spouses coping strategies influence the spouses’ adjustment, personal, interaction, and coping.  In this article, coping refers to strategies the expatriate’s spouse use to manage, reduce, or overcome the environmental and internal demands they encounter during an international assignment. The stress of living away from a home country affects individuals in a variety of ways. Spousal adaptations aid in the adjustment for the spouse and expatriates.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the 2 coping strategies expatriate and expatriates’ spouses
2. Identify and evaluate the 2 major findings presented in the study
3. Identify 4 limitations of the study presented by researchers and consider the implications of these limitations in the context of future research in this area

Course Outline:

1. Read and understand the article, The influence of expatriate spouses’ coping strategies on expatriate and spouse adjustment: An interdependence perspective
2. Review the Course Description and Learning Objectives
3. Work through the post-test questions; The answers to the questions should be derived from the respective article
4. Review the article for further clarification, if needed.