Using a strength-based approach to social work with minority groups: The case of at-risk young-adult Arabs in Israel.

Social workers have a significant role in empowering clients to discover their own strengths as well as strengths in their environment and to achieve social justice on behalf of oppressed populations. The goal of this exploratory qualitative study was to broaden our knowledge on strength-based approaches in working with minority and collectivist societies via the perspectives of 20 social workers and 19 managers of social service organizations and departments who work with at-risk young-adult Arabs throughout Israel. Thematic analysis revealed that social workers consciously try to identify young adults' assets and resources at both the personal and environmental level, despite the major structural barriers in these young adults' lives (i.e., due to intersectionality). Also, they use their collaborative relationship with the young adults as a mechanism to induce hope, a sense of responsibility, a sense of agency, and empowerment. The discussion addresses the study's findings concerning the literature on strength-based approaches, highlighting the advantages and challenges in using such approaches when working with these populations. Recommendations for practical implementation propose the integration of thorough training in strength-based approaches into the professional socialization of emerging social workers. Moreover, it is suggested to establish a guiding principle by implementing a systematic assessment that aligns conceptually with strength-based approaches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The association of social factors and COVID-19-related resource loss with depression and anxiety among Arabs in Israel.

OBJECTIVES: Arabs in Israel have been found to experience higher levels of mental distress compared to Jews due to COVID-19. However, the social mechanisms underlying mental health vulnerability in the context of mass crisis have been understudied. Based on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, the aim of the current study was to examine experiences of resource loss, social exclusion, ethnic discrimination, and social support and their association with depression and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak among Arabs in Israel. METHOD: The sample included 665 adult Arabs in Israel who completed an online self-report questionnaire regarding background variables, resource loss due to COVID-19, social exclusion, ethnic discrimination, social support, and depression and anxiety symptoms. RESULTS: Participants reported on average mild depression and anxiety severity scores, and 15.2% met criteria for major depressive disorder. Many (43.1%) reported experiencing more than 1 loss due to COVID-19 in health, finances or occupation, and interpersonal relationships. Path analyses show that cumulative losses due to COVID-19 and social exclusion were directly associated with depression and anxiety symptom levels. Discrimination moderated the association between losses and both depression and anxiety symptom levels. CONCLUSION: Mental health is embedded in dynamic sociopolitical contexts. Arabs as a national minority in Israel have a perceived sense of social exclusion and discrimination and social and material resource deprivation, which relates to their vulnerability, especially in the face of crisis. It is our obligation as researchers and practitioners to illuminate the centrality of these oppressive mechanisms in shaping mental health vulnerability. Clinical Impact Statement: The present study suggests that social exclusion and cumulative resource losses due to COVID-19 in areas of health, occupation, finances, and social connections predict depression and anxiety among Arabs in Israel. In addition, ethnic discrimination moderates the relationship between cumulative losses and mental health outcomes. These results highlight the importance of developing and implementing context-informed health and social care policies and practices, especially in this time of crisis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of exposure to child abuse, social exclusion, and discrimination in predicting posttraumatic symptoms and resilience among young Arab women in Israel.

Child abuse has been demonstrated to have long-term negative effects on mental and social functioning. However, only few studies have focused on ethnic minority women. Our study examined the role of exposure to child abuse, social exclusion, and discrimination in predicting posttraumatic symptoms and resilience among young Arab women in Israel. Young Arab women (n = 482) aged 18-25 filled out questionnaires regarding background information, exposure to child abuse (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form), social exclusion, perceived discrimination, posttraumatic stress symptoms (Screen for Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms), and resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10). Participants who experienced child abuse reported higher levels of social exclusion, perceived discrimination, and posttraumatic symptoms and lower levels of resilience, compared to participants who did not experience child abuse. Experiencing child abuse, social exclusion, and discrimination were associated with higher levels of posttraumatic symptoms. Social exclusion moderated the association between child abuse and resilience. Consistent with the concept of intersectional trauma, the findings show that both child abuse and social exclusion play a significant role in predicting posttraumatic symptoms and resilience among young Arab women. Accordingly, we need to embrace a context-informed perspective in research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

"Poster girl": The discourse constructing the image of "girls in distress" as existential epistemic injustice.

The present study is focused on understanding how the image of the girl designated "in distress" in official regulations guiding the provision of public social services to girls in Israel can be structured. The study takes a qualitative approach, and employs the critical-feminist paradigm to the analysis and interpretation of discourse, combining thematic content analysis and deductive critical discourse analysis. Its main findings disclose an organized process of establishing the normative authorities dominating the discourse on public social services for girls; classifying groups of service recipients to which a girl can belong; constructing their forms; and ultimately circumscribing the girls thereto, determining the performative acts on which receiving state assistance is conditional. Through discursive maneuvers of construction, the image of the girl is "born" as an undisputed "truth" deriving from the deviance attached to her every move. In this trajectory, basic epistemic injustices are perpetuated and solidified, and a new form of epistemic injustice-existential epistemic injustice-is revealed. This process's implications are proposed.

On the Lived Experience of Sex Offenders' Therapists: Their Perceptions of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Consequences and Patterns of Coping.

In the last two decades, there has been a growing understanding that the therapeutic encounter with sex offenders takes a cost and has consequences on therapists. Despite the increasing research on the consequences of treating sex offenders, these studies in fact, have merely described the consequences, without providing an outlook for how therapists cope with them. The study presented in this article was part of a larger qualitative research project conducted among social workers, using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Emphasis is placed on therapists' perceptions of the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences they experience from treating sex offenders, as well as the strategies they use to cope with these consequences. The study's central findings concern the therapists' perception of the intrapersonal consequences, which included two levels: primary responses and cumulative responses, and their perception of the interpersonal consequences that included their parenting relationships, intimate relationships, their attitude toward others (strangers and acquaintances), loss of their quality of life, and further positive consequences. The findings indicated a sequence and integrated use of the strategies to cope with the consequences. The results are discussed in light of the theoretical framework of Lazarus and Folkman's stress and coping theory. The limitations of the study as well as its implications for future research are discussed.

Therapists' Perceptions of Their Encounter With Sex Offenders.

Despite the increasing interest in therapists' responses to their encounter with sex offenders, there is a lack of research on their subjective perceptions of this encounter and on their experience working with this client population. The study presented in this article is part of a larger qualitative research project conducted among 19 social workers (12 were women and 7 were men; their ages ranged from 30 to 66 years; 15 of them were Jewish and 4 were Arab). In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine their attitudes toward and perceptions of their encounter with sex offenders. The questions related to the therapists' perceptions regarding motives for committing sex offenses, therapists' perceptions of sex offenders, therapists' perceptions of the victims of sex offenders, and therapists' perceptions of the nature of their professional role. In this article, emphasis is placed on the development and changes of the therapists' perceptions following that encounter. The following five major domains of perceptions were revealed in the study: Therapists' perceptions of the offenders' personal motives for committing sex offenses, therapists' perceptions of sex offenders, therapists' perceptions of the experience of victimization, the process of changing perceptions, and the nature of the therapists' role. The results are discussed in light of Ajzen's conceptualization of the process of acquiring beliefs. The limitations of the study as well as its implications for future research and for shaping the perceptions of therapists toward sex offenders are discussed.