Elizabethtown College’s Dr. Susan Mapp, associate professor and chair of the social work department, was recently published in the Journal of Social Work Education (JSWE). Her essay is titled “Effect of Short-Term Study Abroad Programs on Students’ Cultural Adaptability.”
The Journal of Social Work Education is a professional journal that has around 4,000 subscribers. The journal focuses primarily on education in social work and social welfare to undergraduate students and graduate students.
Mapp’s essay mentions that short-term study abroad trips are very popular among students in the U.S. She conducted research experiments where she assessed the effect of undergraduate students’ cross-cultural adaptability using a pre-post design. A pre-post study examines whether the participants improve or regress. In this case the participants are the undergraduate students.
The Council on Social Work Education published the essay in 2012 to inform students that there is a shortage of literature on the effect of short-term study abroad trips.
Mapp currently teaches a first-year seminar on Global Child Welfare and Well-being. She also teaches a variety of social work classes including Social Problems, Social Work Research Methods and International Social Development.
Her areas of study include human trafficking, international social work, violations of children’s rights and program evaluation. Not only is she an associate professor, she also has led a number of short-term study abroad programs. Dr. Mapp wrote a book on international social work and one on global issues of children’s welfare.