EPA Foreign care workers' intercultural adaptation and communication in intercultural care settings

现象学调查显示，根据《经济伙伴关系协定》来到日本的外籍护工（菲律宾护士）在适应日本文化的过程中遇到的沟通问题深深涉及到身份问题。当日语的交流经历使护士意识到两种相互冲突的自我形象——他们曾经是谁，并认为这是他们真正的自我（一个有能力的护士），他们认为他们现在是谁（一个“无用的”护士），他们认为沟通本身是有问题的。此外，当日本同行（病人和同事）的沟通方式不能帮助他们在日常互动中重新获得和重建作为护士的积极自我形象时，他们认为这是有问题的。

Phenomenological interrogation revealed that communication problems experienced by foreign care workers (Filipino nurses) who came to Japan under the Economic Partnership Agreement deeply involve the issues of identity as they adapt to Japanese culture. When the communication experience in Japanese makes the nurses conscious about the two conflicting self-images - who they used to be and believe is their true self (a capable nurse) and who they perceive they are now (a "useless" nurse-to-be), they see the communication itself as problematic. Moreover, they see it as problematic when the way Japanese counterparts (patients and coworkers) communicate does not help them regain and reconstruct a positive self-image as a nurse in their everyday interactions.