Transformational Experiences Beyond Borders: Study Abroad and the Further Development of the Experience Impact Scale

Abstract

Study abroad has become a useful context to examine transformative experiences within the experience typology concept as developed by Duerden et al. (2018). Even more recent work has used study abroad to develop instruments for measuring experience types, such as the Experience Impact Scale (EIS, Lundberg et al., 2021). Initial results from the EIS suggest the need to continue clarifying the characteristics of each experience type. In particular, the transformative experience is of specific interest. The purpose of this study was to further examine transformative experiences as described by those defining their experience as such, and to gain additional insights into the issue of elapsed time and how that influences one’s description of an experience. To this end, a six-month follow-up and the use of an additional measure, the Experience Type Checklist (ETC), were used to further verify and potentially clarify the assumptions upon which the typology and subsequent measurement instruments have been developed.