Managing Re-entry Home: Factors that Influence reverse shock

In the blog last week, we explored a brief introductory overview of the W-Curve model of cross-cultural adaptation. This week, we need to first define the concept of reverse or re-entry shock. After this, we shall critically review several factors that can influence both potential exposure to reverse shock and the possible intensity of this experience should it arise.

Defining reverse or re-entry shock

Reverse or re-entry shock is a significant challenge encountered by some sojourners on return to the home context after an extended period overseas. Reactions vary from being initial minimal mild irritations or frustrations to something significantly more debilitating. At the more serious level, the experience can involve a sense of disorientation, isolation, or anxiety that is triggered by feeling oddly unable to effectively navigate the once completely comfortable home landscape.

Moreover, colleagues and senior students who have discussed this issue with me typically report that, unlike their original sojourn overseas, they made little or no preparation for the return home and simply did not anticipate the challenges that they eventually encountered.

Influential contributing factors

Several factors appear to influence both a potential susceptibility to an encounter with reverse shock and the possible intensity of any experience should it arise.

Return rationale

First, a particularly influential factor is whether the return home was voluntarily planned or due to an unexpected occurrence such as an immigration or visa issue, some serious misdemeanour, a family tragedy, or sudden health problem. Typically, though not inevitably, sojourners required to return home a short notice seem more exposed to a range of reverse shock challenges.

Cultural contrast

Whether the sojourner was moving within or between cultural clusters, together with the extent of the contrast in cultural value orientation, will also impact on the possibility of reverse shock. The argument here is that greater the cultural distance, the more likely the returnee will experience some degree of challenge during re-integration because of the effort originally made to adapt to the new host cultural context.

Duration overseas

Then, at a more immediately practical level, the duration of stay overseas will inevitably have an impact on the speed at which most sojourners re-adapt once arriving home. Those sojourners returning after several years overseas often experience greater difficulties adjusting, as they understandably have multiple reasons for missing their previous lifestyle, home, routine, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances.

Adaptation level

After this, and perhaps paradoxically in many ways, the level of adaptation to the host cultural context can influence the possibility of reverse shock. The reason for this is that those who most successfully master the host context will almost inevitably feel a greater sense of loss than those sojourners who maintained greater distance. This will include having to leave everything in the home from home that was built over a long period, together with the often highly emotional experience of saying farewell to many colleagues, new friends, and acquaintances.

Prior experience

Another factor that can significantly assist re-integration is prior experience of the re-entry process after living overseas for an extended period. For example, such people will be fully aware of both the need to carefully plan the return home, together with the importance of anticipating and managing challenges that can trigger reverse shock.

Age influences

Moreover, though by no means inevitable, older people tend to re-integrate more comfortably when returning to the home context, as they have had several experiences of having to make significant transitional steps in their life and, self-evidently, of surviving to recount the story.

Home relationships

Next, the extent to which the sojourner maintains some interaction with the home context, key events, and significant individuals will also influence the return experience. This is because not only has the sojourner changed in many often-subconscious ways due to the cross-cultural development opportunity, but family, friends, and even the local environment have inevitably moved on.

Indeed, sometimes conditions will have altered to such an extent that what once felt familiar at home has become strangely uncomfortable requiring a significant effort of adaptation. Interestingly, many returnees describe this typically unexpected challenge as being not too dissimilar from the initial process in the previous host nation or even more demanding in some ways.

Return purpose

Finally, the purpose for the return home can be a significant factor in relation to any experience of possible initial reverse shock and any requirement to work at re-integration. For example, in my case, every return was just for a mercifully brief period between further extended university contracts in new cultural locations. Consequently, there was no reason or motivation to struggle with any major challenges or even waste time on re-integration issues.

To conclude, next week, we will first explore a general overview of the re-entry experience and then examine some of the most frequently reported challenges faced by returnees after extended periods overseas.