December 2015
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12 Reads
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1 Citation
The term “sojourner” refers to an individual who travels to another culture for a specified period of time to achieve a particular goal. Sojourners do not intend to permanently settle in another culture and plan to return to their culture of origin after completing the goals of their journey. Much of the research on sojourners has focused on the topics of acculturation, adaptation, and adjustment. All three involve continuing processes that result in changes in the sojourners in response to contact with a different culture. A number of individual- and societal-level factors may influence these processes, resulting in the experience of greater positive outcomes or greater challenges. If sojourners embrace the challenges of intercultural experiences, acculturation, adaptation, and adjustment, there are benefits that may await them. To optimize sojourners' intercultural experiences, a variety of cross-cultural training and education programs have been designed and advocated, and these have been documented to produce positive outcomes.