Abstract:

People in transition, whether cultural or geographic, are at greater risk of somatization. Such transitions may adversely affect international students while they experience the change process. Studies conducted in Turkey and other countries have mostly focused on examining international students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation process. However, there are only a few qualitative studies about that subject. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand the emotional experiences of 19- to 25-year-old international students from East Turkestan with somatic complaints, which constitutes a minority group in Turkey. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a qualitative research method for exploring the subjective experiences of participants in a homogeneous group and understanding how the participants make sense of those experiences. To that aim, we used IPA as our research method. Fourteen semi-structured interviews with seven students were conducted and analyzed. As a result of our analyses, four superordinate themes (and three related subordinate themes) have emerged: (1) pain as a reflection of negative emotions (2) withdrawal with a sense of difference and anxiety about making mistakes (3) burdens from a sense of responsibility (4) pressure and self-blame when goals are not achieved. The emergent themes were discussed in the context of scientific literature and clinical implications with regard to somatic complaints.

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