Same same but different – A qualitative study on the development and maintenance of personal networks among German and international medical students

Introduction: In addition to linguistic and cultural difficulties, problems with social integration are frequently found among international medical students. In contrast, the social interaction among German medical students is considered as non-problematic. Personal networks are considered as positively influencing factors for the learning environment of students as well as their academic performance and personal wellbeing. However, while general findings on the development and maintenance of personal networks among medical students are available, there is insufficient data on students with different nationality or cultural backgrounds. Therefore, we compared the perception of international and German medical students on the development and maintenance of personal networks and examined possible influencing factors. Methodology: Following the principles of theoretical sampling in qualitative research, we recruited 17 international and 10 German preclinical medical students. The survey was conducted with semi-structured interviews, which focused on the participants’ experiences with the development and maintenance of personal networks in medical school. The coding and analysis of the interview transcripts was based on the principles of grounded theory. Results: We show that German participants rated the network development in medical school much more positively than the international participants. This difference was influenced by: a different perception of affiliation to the group of medical students, a low academic benefit from contacts with international students, the socio-cultural framework of medical school as well as the individual strategies of international medical students in dealing with integration. Conclusion: Our study extends existing insights into the development and maintenance of the social environment in medical school by understanding the perception of a subgroup of medical students. A better understanding of these social processes enables an effective evaluation of support and teaching for the subgroup of international medical students in Germany.