Agency of English-Speaking Migrant Women during the Pandemic in Israel

This study is embedded within a distinct pro-migration incentivized 'Law of Return' migration policy in Israel, as it considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant women, their agency, and proculturation. It features stories of migrant women during the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring their agency within the Individual-Socio-Ecological frame of reference of I-positions in the dialogical self theory. This qualitative study on English-speaking women in Israel (N = 39) is empirically grounded in lived experiences of meaning making, mothering, family dynamics, work, and access to healthcare under conditions of lockdown. The analysis of participants' stories resulted in identifying six overarching themes relevant to migrant women: familial roles, mental labor, voicing resistance, mindfulness, intergenerational solidarity, and transnationalism. This study provides a construct clarification of agency, introducing three levels of agency: inward, social, and societal. In particular older migrant women may appeared to be losing agency during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, if the focus was solely on decision making and taking action. However, this study suggests that inward I-positions, in particular as related to mental labor, seemed to flourish during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many participants could engage in a more limited way on social and societal levels. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Constructivist Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

English-Speaking Immigrants in Israel During the Pandemic: Challenges and Pathways to Resilience

This qualitative study explores the resilience of a community of 108 English-speaking immigrants in Israel facing the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. It features the social constructivist approach to resilience as a negotiation of adversities using coping strategies understood within the framework of control, coherence, and connectedness. We discuss data in an articulated perspective of themes comprised of language barriers, transnationality, and the us/them divide, which constitute a common thread in the negotiation of resilience. The pathways to resilience, geared to help individuals in the meaning-making process, build distress tolerance, increase social support, embrace a view of a deep human interconnectedness, and take goal-directed value-driven actions, constituting a basis for interventions. Counseling practice should offer English-speaking immigrants to Israel specific resources that encourage acceptance-based coping, culturally relevant practices of mindfulness, as well as tools that promote social interactions and build resilience by cultivating positive emotions and social connection.

COVID-19 - International psychology's role in addressing healthcare disparities and ethics in marginalized communities

This conceptual paper provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare disparities and particularly its impact on marginalized communities. This critical analysis addresses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 10, and 16, which include health and well-being, reduction of inequality between and within countries, and the need for peaceful and inclusive societies. COVID-19 has infected over 189 million individuals in 220 countries and territories. The pandemic exposed long-standing healthcare inequities between and within countries. Prior to the pandemic, there were limited health and mental health services available to marginalized communities, individuals of lower socioeconomic status, and those in low- and middle-income countries;COVID-19 overburdened healthcare and mental health systems, which resulted in grave mental and physical health consequences. SDG 10 focuses on reducing inequality within and between countries and the need for advocacy for vulnerable groups. International psychology is in a unique position to address the ethical issues associated with healthcare disparities and rationing of care. SDG 3 addresses the need for good health and well-being for all. Achieving this goal is a challenge because of unequal access to healthcare and barriers to services continue, particularly in countries without universal healthcare. Goal 16 focuses on creating and promoting peaceful, just, and inclusive societies and institutions. However, access to healthcare does not erase long-standing histories of injustice, colonialism, and discrimination. Additionally, appreciation of the suspicion with which many minority communities view the healthcare system can be the first step in addressing vaccine reluctance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Impact and Implications.-This conceptual paper provides a framework for ways international psychology could incorporate SDG goals 3, 10, and 16 through integrative, interdisciplinary, and collaborative mechanisms for service delivery and creation of equitable institutions and structures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Factors linked to accessing COVID-19 recommendations among working migrants.

OBJECTIVES: Guided by the Health Belief Model (HBM), this study explored factors associated with accessing COVID-19 health information. DESIGN/SAMPLE: A cross-sectional study design was used. SAMPLE: Migrants (n = 259) employed in Israel prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic were recruited. MEASUREMENTS: The on-line questionnaire included: The Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Brief Resilience Coping Scale and Immigrants' Language Ability scale. RESULTS: Migrants obtaining COVID-19 information when issued were more likely to have decreased employment or unemployment after COVID-19 government restrictions (OR = 1.98; CI = 1.03, 3.89; p < .05) and more likely to have a better language ability (OR = 1.20; CI = 1.10, 1.32, p < .0001), but they were less likely to use family and/or friends as their COVID-19 health resource (OR = 0.54, CI = 0.30, 0.96; p < .05). Migrants encountering the most employment difficulties were: female (p < .05), older age (p < .05), unmarried (p < .01), with unstable finances (p < .0001), and in Israel less than 5 years (p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Migrants with more precarious employment had more societal disadvantage (i.e., women, older age, unmarried, poorer socioeconomic status, and newer migrants) and relied on informal and potentially inaccurate, health sources. Public health officials aiming to decrease COVID-19 infection must improve health information access to all members of society, particularly at-risk groups such as migrants.

Health literacy, resilience and perceived stress of migrants in Israel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To examine perceived stress in migrants guided by Bornstein's Specificity Principle in Acculturation Science (BSPAS) theoretical framework. DESIGN: Using a cross-sectional study, we recruited English-language migrants (n = 411) living in Israel to respond to an online questionnaire during the COVID-19 pandemic, from 3 April to 16 May 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The dependent variable comprised the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) scores, which attained an internal consistency of 0.91 in this sample. RESULTS: PSS scores were related to lower age (p < 0.0001), being single (p = 0.0095), not possessing high (p = 0.0069) or medium resilience (p = 0.0002), reporting below average SES (p = 0.0196), being "extremely" worried about getting COVID-19 (p < 0.0001), and having high health literacy (p = 0.0007). Additionally, the interaction between health literacy and resilience (p < 0.0001) showed that migrants with high resilience and high health literacy had the lowest perceived stress; and migrants with low resilience and high health literacy had the highest perceived stress. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions are needed to assist migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic. The optimal intervention will aim to address the psychological distress while increasing both health literacy and resilience.