Returning home and re-negotiating mental health: a qualitative study of help-seeking, stigma, and cultural identity among Algerian international student returnees.
Boussaoui N, Kelly S, Cogan N • International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being • 2026
Returning home represents a critical yet under-recognised period for mental health and wellbeing, as Algerian international student returnees experienced emotionally complex reintegration shaped by cultural expectations, language, stigma, and evolving identity.
Key Findings
Results
Algerian international student returnees experienced shifting and evolving understandings of mental health following their time in the United Kingdom.
Exposure to UK mental health discourse and services led participants to reconsider their prior conceptualizations of mental health.
Participants described uncertainty in interpreting and communicating psychological distress after returning home.
The shift in understanding created tension between internationally acquired perspectives and locally held beliefs about mental health.
This was identified as one of five interconnected themes generated through reflexive thematic analysis.
Results
Returnees experienced reverse culture shock upon reintegrating into Algerian society after studying in the United Kingdom.
The theme 'struggles of return and reverse culture shock' was one of five core themes identified in the analysis.
Reintegration was described as an emotionally complex transition rather than a straightforward homecoming.
Participants encountered difficulties re-adjusting to familiar cultural environments that now felt unfamiliar due to their time abroad.
Cultural expectations placed on returnees contributed to the emotional difficulty of reintegration.
Results
Participants faced significant barriers to help-seeking related to stigma, limited confidence, and cultural norms around discussing mental health.
The theme 'silent struggles and barriers to help-seeking' captured difficulties participants faced in seeking support.
Participants reported limited confidence discussing mental health with family, peers, or professionals.
Stigma around mental health was identified as a key barrier operating across social and familial contexts.
Cultural expectations shaped what could and could not be disclosed about psychological distress within Algerian social settings.
Results
Returnees drew on coping strategies informed by their international experiences to manage reintegration challenges.
The theme 'coping with the unfamiliar in familiar surroundings' captured these adaptive strategies.
Despite significant challenges, participants demonstrated resilience and adaptability.
Coping strategies were specifically described as 'informed by their international experiences,' suggesting study abroad shaped resourcefulness.
Participants had to apply strategies developed in a foreign context to navigate difficulties within their home country.
Results
Language played a distinctive role in how returnees narrated and made sense of their mental health experiences, described as 'linguistic duality.'
'Linguistic duality in mental health narratives' was identified as the fifth interconnected theme.
Participants navigated between languages (Arabic/Algerian dialect and English) when discussing mental health, reflecting differing conceptual frameworks available in each language.
The availability or absence of mental health vocabulary in participants' home language(s) affected their ability to communicate distress.
Linguistic duality contributed to uncertainty in interpreting and expressing psychological experiences after return.
Methods
The study used semi-structured interviews with Algerian returnees analysed through reflexive thematic analysis within an interpretivist framework.
Participants were Algerian international students who had studied in the United Kingdom and subsequently returned to Algeria.
Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, allowing for in-depth exploration of personal experiences.
Reflexive thematic analysis was the chosen analytical method, consistent with an interpretivist epistemological framework.
The sample size is not specified in the abstract; the study is described as qualitative.
Conclusions
The authors concluded that culturally responsive reintegration support and re-entry programmes are needed to address mental health across the full cycle of international student mobility.
The post-return period was characterised as 'a critical yet under-recognised period for mental health and wellbeing.'
Recommendations included 'accessible help-seeking pathways and re-entry programmes.'
Support was described as needing to be 'culturally responsive' to be effective for this population.
The findings highlight a gap in existing support structures that focus on the study-abroad period but neglect the return phase.
What This Means
This research suggests that returning home after studying abroad can be a surprisingly difficult experience for international students — one that has received much less attention than the challenges of going abroad in the first place. The study interviewed Algerian students who had studied in the United Kingdom and then returned home, exploring how they understood and dealt with their mental health during reintegration. Researchers found five major themes: participants' ideas about mental health had shifted due to their time in the UK; they experienced 'reverse culture shock' when coming home; they faced stigma and barriers when trying to seek help; they had to find new ways of coping in what should have been familiar surroundings; and they struggled to talk about their mental health in their home languages, which often lack the same vocabulary for psychological distress that English provides.
One important practical finding is that returning students felt unable to openly discuss their mental wellbeing with family members, friends, or professional services in Algeria, largely because of cultural stigma and expectations. At the same time, the study found that these students were not simply passive victims — they showed real resilience and drew creatively on skills and perspectives they had gained while living abroad to help them cope. The mismatch between what they had learned to expect in terms of mental health support in the UK and what was available or culturally accepted at home created a particular kind of distress.
This research suggests that universities, governments, and mental health services need to think beyond the period when students are studying overseas and provide structured, culturally sensitive support for the return phase as well. This could include reintegration programmes and clearer pathways for accessing help that take into account the unique position of returnees — people who are caught between two cultural worlds and may find that neither fully addresses their needs.
Boussaoui N, Kelly S, Cogan N. (2026). Returning home and re-negotiating mental health: a qualitative study of help-seeking, stigma, and cultural identity among Algerian international student returnees.. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2026.2724187