This study was designed to describe the experiences of acculturation, acculturative stress, and coping behaviors among Black international students. While research exists on the acculturative and coping experiences of international students in the United States, very few studies have been designed to explicitly examine the experiences of Black international students of sub-Saharan and Caribbean origins. A majority of the existing literature has focused on experiences of Asian and Latin American international students (Malcolm & Mendoza, 2014). This study was intended to provide information about the acculturative experiences of Black international students enrolled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Interviews were conducted with four focus groups, each comprising three participants. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using an interpretive phenomenological approach, and themes were generated from the interviews. The themes that emerged shed light on experiences related to acculturative stress, anti-Black and anti-immigrant discrimination, and adjusting to a new academic environment. Themes also highlighted several ways that Black international students coped with these experiences (e.g., talking to other international students, keeping in contact with family in their home country, and relying on a faith community). Results from this study will inform future research on how Black international students learn race within the U.S context, how geographical location influences the acculturative experiences of Black international students, and the interactions between Black immigrant communities and African American communities. Results of this study could also be used to develop diversity trainings for university staff and community members, and to develop social programs specifically for Black international

Little is known about the psychotherapy utilization, presenting concerns, and outcome differences between Black international and African American university students. The aim of this research is to identify potential similarities and differences between the two groups, as well as potential differences between the aforementioned groups and white students. This study examined archival data collected over the course of a 17-year period that focused on experiences of African-American, Black international, and White students at a large university in the Rocky Mountain West, United States. More specifically, archival data were analyzed to identify differences between the aforementioned groups of students in regard to psychotherapy utilization, presenting concerns, distress levels endorsed at intake, and distress levels endorsed at termination. Results indicate significant differences between African-American, Black international, and White student groups in terms of the maximum number of psychotherapy sessions attended and length of treatment in days. We found significant differences between these groups of students on several items assessed in the Presenting Problem Checklist and the Family Concerns Survey. We found no significant difference between African-American, Black international, and White student groups in the severity of presenting distress as measured by the Outcome Questionaire-45. We found a significant difference between groups in treatment improvement as measured by change scores on the Outcome Questionaire-45, with White students experiencing the greatest change, followed by Black international students and African-Americans. Possible explanations and implications for practice will be discussed in the body of the paper.