New Article: Araten-Bergman et al, Psychosocial Adjustment of Israeli Veterans with Disabilities

Araten-Bergman, Tal, Patricia Tal-Katz, and Michael Ashley Stein. “Psychosocial Adjustment of Israeli Veterans with Disabilities: Does Employment Status Matter?” Work 50.1 (2015): 59-71.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/WOR-141925

 

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Since its establishment in 1948, the state of Israel has been deeply committed to reintegrating veterans with disabilities into mainstream society. Prominently, the Israeli Ministry of Defence’s rehabilitation division provides veterans with disabilities with a wide array of benefits and services aimed at restoring their physical and psychosocial functioning, especially in the workplace. The focus on employment is motivated by a prevailing assumption among professionals that successful adjustment to disability is contingent on an individual’s ability to reacquire normative occupational function. To date, however, this widely accepted wisdom has not been empirically scrutinized.

OBJECTIVE: To empirically explore whether employment status is associated to psychological, social, and behavioural adjustment attributes.

METHODS: One hundred and one employed veterans were compared to 111 non-employed veterans in respect to their self-reported levels of hope, acceptance of disability, social networks size and social participation patterns.

RESULTS: Employed veterans reported significantly higher levels psychological adjustment as manifested in elevated hope and acceptance of disability and lighter social network than their non-employed counterparts. However no differences were found between employed and non-employed veterans with respect to their social participation patterns.

CONCLUSIONS: The value of these findings, as well as wider implications for rehabilitation professionals and policy makers, is discussed.

New Article: Koren et al, Disability during Military Service in Israel

Koren, Ela, Yoav S. Bergman, and Michael Katz. “Disability during Military Service in  Israel: Raising Awareness of Gender Differences.” Journal of Gender Studies 24.1 (2015): 117-28.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2013.820132

 

Abstract

Women in Israel are required by law to serve in the national army. While disabled women veterans constitute about 6% of the total disabled veteran population, their injuries during service are similar to those of men, and include injuries sustained during combat, in training, or in traffic accidents. To date, no attempt has been made to study this unique population. The current research employs the social model of disability and examines gender differences among Israeli Defense Forces veterans who became disabled during their military service, in the areas of mental and physical health, perceived stigma, and social support. Findings show that disabled women veterans report significantly lower social support, lower monthly salaries, and experience more discrimination than their male counterparts. No differences were found in other variables. This research is an important step toward raising the awareness of gender differences, and its findings stress the need for additional studies which will provide further information regarding this distinctive population.

New Article: Mahajnah, The Clinical Profile of ADHD in Israel

Mahajnah, M., R. Sharkia, N. Shorbaji, R. Terkel-Dawer, and N. Zelnik. “P173 – 2561: The Clinical Profile of ADHD in Israel – Impact of Ethnic and Social Diversities.” European Journal of Paediatric Neurology 19, sup. 1 (2015): S142 ff.

 
 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1090-3798(15)30486-4

 

Abstract

Objective

The diagnosis of ADHD relies mostly on clinical observation and employment of standard questionnaires and checklist batteries which are highly susceptible to human factors. In this study we searched for differences in the clinical profile of children with ADHD in both the Arab and Jewish sectors in Israel which might be influenced by cultural and social background.

Methods

Data of children aged 7–17 years diagnosed with ADHD between 2010 and 2013 in two ADHD clinics in northern Israel was analyzed. The diagnosis of ADHD was based on clinical evaluation and fulfillment of the DSM IV criteria and aided by both the Teacher and Parent Conners Rating Scales. Children with autism and intellectual disabilities were excluded.

Results

Out of 823 patients – 516 (62.7%) were Jewish and 307 (37.3%) were Arabs. The distributions of the ADHD subtypes were similar in both populations. Learning disabilities (LD) and psychiatric comorbidities (behavioral difficulties and anxiety) were reported more frequently in the Jewish population (49% vs. 41% for LD, 15.7% vs. 12.8% for behavioral difficulties and 27.0% vs. 1.0% for anxiety p<0.05). Patients from the Jewish sector were primarily treated with long-acting methylphenidate formulations while patients from the Arab sector were treated primarily with short acting methylphenidate (p<0.05). The most commonly reported adverse effects were anorexia, headache, insomnia and rebound effect and were more frequently reported in the Jewish population (42.0% vs. 18.0% P<0.05).

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that while the biological nature of ADHD and its subtypes are similar in these two populations, learning disabilities, psychiatric co morbidities, employment of long-acting MPH formulations and complaints of side-effects were more prevalent in patients from the Jewish sectors. We presume that these differences are related to cultural and socioeconomic factors and the physician should take them into consideration when treating patients with ADHD.

New Article: Lapidot-Lefler et al, Social Space and Field as Constructs for Evaluating Social Inclusion

Lapidot-Lefler, Noam, Victor J. Friedman, Daniella Arieli, Noha Haj, Israel Sykes, and Nasreen Kais. “Social Space and Field as Constructs for Evaluating Social Inclusion.” New Directions for Evaluation 146 (2015): 33-43.

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ev.20118

 
Abstract
This paper addresses the role of evaluation in promoting social inclusion, an important component of social justice, with a focus on exclusion resulting from physical disability. We argue that the evaluation of social exclusion and social inclusion requires evaluators not only to reconsider their role and methods, but also to revise the fundamental constructs through which they study how programs and other interventions generate change at the individual, group, community, and societal levels. Drawing on field theory, we suggest that social inclusion processes can be understood and assessed in terms of the expansion of individuals’ life space, which consists of social, political, cultural, and resource dimensions. The paper illustrates these constructs with data from a participative action evaluation of a pilot program for providing services to people with disabilities in Israel. Our aim in developing these constructs is to provide not only tools for assessment, but also ways of thinking that may enable socially excluded people to be more active agents of inclusion.

Cite: Hammer, Blind Women’s Appearance Management

Hammer, Gili. “Blind Women’s Appearance Management. Negotiating Normalcy between Discipline and Pleasure.” Gender & Society 26.3 (2012): 406-32.

 

URL: http://gas.sagepub.com/content/26/3/406.abstract

 

Abstract

This article examines the contradictions inherent in blind women’s appearance management. Based on an anthropological analysis of interviews with 40 blind women in Israel, the article argues that while serving as a valuable tool within stigma management, appearance management operates simultaneously as a site of rigorous discipline of the body in an effort to comply with feminine visual norms, and as a vehicle for the expression and reception of sensory pleasure. It argues for the significant role of blind women’s appearance in negotiating normalcy and rejecting the normative, stigmatizing script written for them as disabled-blind-women. By studying the role of appearance in the lives of women who do not rely on sight as a central mode of perception, the article addresses the complicated position of blind women in visual culture and challenges the traditional ocular focus of the study of feminine identity and gender performance.