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Stress is negatively linked to health and well-being. Social comparison can serve as a coping mechanism with stress. This study explored whether social comparison mediates the relationship between visual impairment (VI)-related stress and self-esteem. A convenience sample of 100 individuals with VI completed self-reported questionnaires. We found that social comparison generated negative affect and partially mediated the relationship between VI-related stress and self-esteem. The findings imply that assessing social comparison among people who report VI-related stress should be incorporated into the rehabilitation plan. Rehabilitation staff members need to work individually with people who report VI-related stress and employ interventions to limit the potential negative effects of social comparison on self-esteem. Keywords: visual impairment-related stress, coping, social comparison, self-esteem, Ample research has shown that long-term impairments and chronic illnesses can lead to stress (Falvo & Holland, 2017; Livneh, 2016; Turk & McDermott, 2018). According to Lazarus and Folkman (1986), [...]

Studies show that people with a learning disability (LD) are stigmatized. The study adopts the major tenets of the "Attribution Model of Reactions to Stigmas" (AMRS), which postulates that causal attributions to disability ("stigmas") are associated with affective responses that lead to behavioral outcomes. Adopting a multidimensional approach to attributions, we examined the applicability of the AMRS among Arab-Israeli mothers. A convenience sample of 122 mothers of elementary school children, who were diagnosed with LD, completed self-reported, closed-ended questionnaires. The AMRS was only partially supported by our findings. However, we found that four of the five types of reported causal attributions were significantly and negatively associated with maternal rejection. We also found high levels of maternal rejection, in addition to high levels of positive affective reactions. Attributing the child's LD to a medical condition at the time of the mother's pregnancy or the child's birth was associated with lower positive affect.

Although women play a significant role in non-profit organizations as employees, volunteers, and clients, there is insufficient knowledge about these women and their unique work experiences in the current era, which is characterized by outsourcing of social services. This study explored work experiences among women in professional care settings of social service non-profit organizations (SSNPOs). Forty in-depth interviews were conducted with women with postsecondary education working as care professionals (such as social workers and occupational therapists) in Israeli SSNPOs. The sample reflected Israel's geographical, religious, ethnic, and job (full-time and part-time) diversity. Interviewees were asked about their employment experiences, struggles, and challenges. Thematic analysis was used. The findings shed light on how care work in SSNPOs enters the private sphere and is internalized, i.e. boundaries between home and work that are continuously blurred and endanger employees' well-being. Our study suggests that women working in care professions in contracted SSNPOs are more vulnerable due to their working conditions, despite their postsecondary education and defined professions. Negative psychosocial outcomes are the major challenge for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide is a serious global public-health issue that is perceived as the most stigmatizing of sudden losses. Most studies on this topic have examined how bereaved families perceive public stigma, paying less attention to the actual stigma experienced by those not directly bereaved. Therefore, this study examined the association between personality traits and the public stigma attached to families that have lost a member to suicide. Three hundred and eighty (N = 380) Israeli participants completed demographic, Big 5, and stigma questionnaires. The study findings demonstrate that neuroticism and openness to experience are associated with higher levels of public stigma, while conscientiousness is associated with lower levels of public stigma. In addition, Arab participants reported higher levels of public stigma than Jewish participants. These findings make an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship between personality traits and the public stigma attached to families that have lost a member to suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress is negatively linked to health and well-being. Social comparison can serve as a coping mechanism with stress. This study explored whether social comparison mediates the relationship between visual impairment (VI)-related stress and self-esteem. A convenience sample of 100 individuals with VI completed self-reported questionnaires. We found that social comparison generated negative affect and partially mediated the relationship between VI-related stress and self-esteem. The findings imply that assessing social comparison among people who report VI-related stress should be incorporated into the rehabilitation plan. Rehabilitation staff members need to work individually with people who report VI-related stress and employ interventions to limit the potential negative effects of social comparison on self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This feasibility study examines the coverage of employment-related issues related to people with disabilities in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The study is a first in a series of future studies focusing on disability issues in the international economic media. A survey of 39 newspaper articles published in the "Wall Street Journal", a leading and most circulated business newspaper in the USA. Specifically, it comprised articles taken from three periods: 1990, the year the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted; 2000, a decade later; and 2008, the year the amendments were revised with respect to definitions and employment. Data were analyzed by quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The results suggest a mixed representation: a decline in negative representations of disability throughout the years alongside the emergence of a legal-fiscal discourse of a disability that depicts persons with disabilities as a fiscal burden on employers. It seems that the new image of disability presents conflicting interests between the mission of the law, promoting employers' hiring of people with disabilities, and the economic realities of accommodating them at the workplace. Additional research is needed to examine whether this image is unique to the economic media or may reflect a concern in the business community.

This study re-examined Gresham Sykes's initial conceptualization of 'pains of imprisonment' as it applied to women inmates. It contextualized these pains within the women's social experiences both inside and outside the only women's prison in Israel. Semi-structured interviews with 42 female prisoners were conducted. Two counter-themes emerged from our analysis. The first one portrayed prison as punishment, a 'painful condition,' a stressful event that included deprivation, negative meaning, suffering, and pain. The opposite--and more dominant--theme framed incarceration as a positive experience, during which the prisoners, received nurturing, care, and treatment, which they had not been afforded in the outside world. We found that 'pains of imprisonment' was a multidimensional and complex phenomena that included contradicting emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. 'Pains of imprisonment' was part of a larger group of pains that extended beyond the time and place of prison. KEYWORDS women prisoners, pains of imprisonment, positive accounts of imprisonment DOI: 10.1080/03630242.2010.510388

Illness narratives are cultural artifacts that reflect the ways through which a certain culture perceives and constructs a given illness. Against this backdrop, the study explored the social construction of MS in Israeli society. Thematic content analysis of all (70) illness narratives posted on the Israel MS Society's website between 2012–2018, was employed. Five themes were identified in our analysis, according to chronological order: (1) "Becoming ill" – consisted of framing MS as a sudden affliction or constructing MS as a gradual development. (2) "Negative changes" depicted MS as inflicting negative bodily changes and a disruption to the social order. The "happy ending" of the narratives pertained to (3) "adjustments" to MS and, (4) "never giving up" to MS. These were facilitated by embracing (5) "positive thinking and optimism." MS is perceived in Israel as a form of "deviance" and as a biomedical phenomenon. Rehabilitation and healthcare staff, therefore, need to actively engage in interventions that challenge and change the ways that MS is perceived, as well as to partner with people with MS, and disability advocates to reconstruct and design policies and services that reflect a more socio-political understanding of MS. Illness narratives by people with multiple sclerosis (MS) can teach us about the ways though which a given society perceives and constructs MS. This study analyzed online illness narratives by Israelis with MS; it shows that MS was predominantly constructed as a bio-medical phenomenon and as a form of social deviance. Rehabilitation and healthcare professionals need to actively engage in interventions that challenge and change the ways MS is perceived among the public, policy makers, and people with multiple sclerosis. Rehabilitation and healthcare professionals should collaborate with people with MS and disability advocates in order to reconstruct and shape policies and the planning of communities such that they address the socio-cultural barriers that people with MS face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the personal well-being of Israeli Arabs with Down syndrome, through the relationships between the person's severity of intellectual disability, functioning and engagement in activities and measures of social participation. The sample included 51 adults with Down syndrome (aged 21-61), currently working in 20 extended employment programs in Northern Israel. The study tools comprised background questions, and questionnaires that measure the severity of intellectual disability, functioning and engagement in activities, social participation, and personal well-being. The findings indicate a positive correlation between the severity of intellectual disability and their levels of functioning and engagement in activities and social participation. These two variables were also correlated with personal well-being of these adults. However, a closer examination of the association between social participation and personal well-being demonstrates that while medical and functional variables were directly correlated with personal well-being, the level of social participation was mediated by adults' functioning and engagement in activities. Findings are discussed regarding policy, planning of services and practice. The impact of economic variables, parents' employment status and area of residence on the social participation of people with Down syndrome is emphasized. The article also highlights the low use of formal services, by people with Down syndrome and their families. Many barriers, such as poverty, low exposure, lack of awareness of the existence of services, as well as a fatalistic approach regarding the family's ability to cope with the difficulties and challenges of raising a child with Down syndrome, may lead to the underuse of services in the Arab society. The article encourages an in-depth discussion of the differences between people with Down syndrome in the Arab society and those in the general society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies show that women are more vulnerable to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission than men because of biological and sociocultural risk factors. Israeli Arab‐Palestinians are the largest ethnic minority group in Israel. Unofficial data suggest that merely one percent of the tests conducted in Israel to diagnose HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) are conducted by this population and that Israeli Arab‐Palestinians are typically diagnosed late. Arab communities in Israel were found to be predominately patriarchal, characterised by conservative gender roles and structures, and the policing of overt sexual behaviours, particularly those of women. In order to advance our understanding of the HIV/AIDS phenomenon in different sociocultural contexts, as well as to design effective cultural‐sensitive interventions, we must first understand how HIV/AIDS is constructed in different cultural sites. Against this backdrop, this exploratory study examines HIV/AIDS‐related beliefs among non‐infected, Israeli Arab‐Palestinian women. We conducted semi‐structured interviews with 12 women. Thematic content analysis was used in order to analyse the data. Five themes emerged from the analysis, in the first, personal responsibility and blame were assigned to people with HIV/AIDS for their illness. In the second theme, HIV/AIDS was constructed as a sexually transmitted disease, associated with 'deviant' sexuality and sexual conduct in the Arab culture. In the third theme, HIV/AIDS was believed to be transmitted by multiple, mostly mistaken, modes of contact. In the fourth theme, people with HIV/AIDS were believed to be subjected to severe negative social responses. In the fifth theme, individuals with HIV/AIDS were depicted as a symbol of physical and psychological malaise. In conclusion, the findings imply that Israeli Arab‐Palestinian women hold negative beliefs concerning people with HIV/AIDS and are misinformed regarding HIV transmission. This suggests a need to design culturally appropriate interventions to address stigma‐related beliefs and misconceptions concerning transmission, among Israeli Arab‐Palestinian women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]