Information for when you go overseas
These resources are meant to assist you personally when you travel internationally to undertake global health initiatives. Culture shock is the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply travel to another type of life
Cultural competency is developing an awareness of the culture you are going into and understanding their belief system and values.
Global Health Institute Travel Resources
- Travel FAQsThis provides international travel FAQs for UW Madison affiliates.
- Packing List for International TravelThis is a checklist of items to consider packing when planning for your international travel.
Websites
- Travel.State.GovFrom the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs, this site has information on international travel, tips for traveling and living abroad, travel alerts, and a searchable database of country information, including information related to entry/exit requirements for U.S. citizens.
- Travel.State.Gov Travel AdvisoriesFrom the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs. This resource provides information relating to travel advisories by destination.
- CDC: Traveler's HealthFrom the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this resource provides health information and tips for those planning to travel internationally.
- World-Wide Cultural E-ResourcesCompiled by Culturelink Network (created by UNESCO), this list includes resources, publications, international organizations and institutions.
- CDC Health Information for International Travel- The Yellow BookCDC's Yellow Book (Health Information for International Travel) is published every two years as a resource for health professionals providing care to international travelers. The fully revised and updated CDC Yellow Book 2020 compiles the US government’s most current travel health guidelines, including pretravel vaccine recommendations, destination-specific health advice, and easy-to-reference maps, tables, and charts.
Mobile Resources
- CDC TravWell App"CDC’s TravWell app helps you plan for safe and healthy international travel. Build a trip to get destination-specific vaccine recommendations, a checklist of what you need to do to prepare for travel, and a customizable healthy travel packing list. The app also lets you store travel documents, keep a record of your medications and immunizations, and set reminders to get vaccine booster doses or take medicines while you’re traveling."
Free Online Courses
- Cultural Competency Online CourseEleven modules cover various aspects of cultural competency and awareness training, including culture shock, designed for those volunteering and working abroad (for Unite for Sight or other organizations), particularly in clinical settings.
- What's Up with Culture?From the University of the Pacific's School of International Studies, three modules provide information and resources geared towards students studying abroad but can be applied beyond students.
How and Where to Search
Getting started...
Finding information on cultural competency, culture shock, reverse culture shock and related topics can be difficult often because there are many aspects and variations within these topics. For example, one can experience culture shock traveling or living abroad, while one can experience culture shock moving between different professional fields. Even the term "culture" can be used in myriad ways, sometimes completely unrelated to culture shock/diversity/competency, such as "cell cultures."
Here are some terms to try in addition to other topic-specific terms when beginning your search:
Cultural Competency
Cultural Diversity
Culture Shock
Reverse Culture Shock
Stress
Transcultural Nursing
Transcultural Care
Transcultural Psychiatry
Cultural Sensitivity
Reality Shock
Social Adjustment
Organizational Culture
Ethnology
Acculturation
Cross Cultural Differences
Cross Cultural Psychology
Adjustment
Culture Change
Expatriation
Repatriation
Re-entry
Some databases to search in:
CDC Travel Notices
Books
Travel Medicine (2019)
"Today's travel medicine includes not only tourism and business travelers, but also incorporates volunteerism, medical care, migration, ecotourism, and more. Travel Medicine, 4th Edition, reflects all of these changes in the field while keeping you up to date with new vaccines and newly proposed regimens, pre-travel advice and post-travel screening, and all travel-related illnesses - for a one-stop, authoritative reference on all aspects of travel medicine"--Publisher's description.
Being There: Learning to Live Cross-Culturally (2011)
"As they immerse themselves in foreign cultures and navigate the relationships that take shape, the authors of these essays, most of them trained anthropologists, find that accepting cultural difference is one thing, experiencing it is quite another. In tales that entertain as much as they illuminate, these writers show how the moral and intellectual challenges of living cross-culturally revealed to them the limits of their perception and understanding."--Description excerpt by publisher.
Culture Shock! Series
This book series gives an overview of the culture, customs, etiquette, and what to expect when traveling to specific countries.
Manual of Travel Medicine (2019)
This book's intended audience is healthcare practitioners during their clinical consultations, as well as nurses and pharmacists. It also contains information that may be useful for travelers. "The book includes expert recommendations regarding e.g. immunizations, malaria prophylaxis, travellers’ diarrhea, altitude sickness, emerging infections, and non-infectious health issues encountered by travellers. It provides a practical approach to the pre-travel consultation and management of most issues that arise in medical care for travellers. In addition, it provides expert advice for high-risk travellers, e.g. those with immunosuppression, the elderly, pregnant women and young children."--Description from publisher.
Traveller's Health (2012)
"Our ability to travel to the remotest parts of the world has been transformed, but the health risks are ever changing and increasing, and there may be no one to help when things go wrong. Whether you are travelling abroad for business or pleasure, this book provides essential, detailed, practical advice for journeys all over the world.This fifth edition is a complete revision of a best-selling, comprehensive and trusted guide. Travellers need to be increasingly well informed about health problems they may encounter abroad. Malaria prevention, the latest vaccine information and advice, cruise ship travel, jet lag, skiing, and accidents and injuries abroad: this book covers every important issue in travel medicine, with the emphasis firmly on self-help and prevention.This new edition brings together state-of-the-art background information and specialist advice from more than 70 leading experts from several countries, now in a more compact format. It is also available in an electronic edition. Travellers' Health is the standard source for the well-prepared traveller."--Description from publisher.