"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.

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).

Prospective examination of daily life traumatic stress symptom expression following motor vehicle collisions.

OBJECTIVE: Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are a common source of traumatic stress, which could lead to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. However, the natural course of symptom development is still poorly understood. The current study aimed to prospectively examine the expression of traumatic stress symptoms in mild-moderate injured MVC survivors, using a novel daily life repeated measurement approach. METHOD: Participants (N = 70) were screened and recruited upon hospital arrival. Daily assessments of traumatic stress symptoms were conducted via mobile phones, and the data during days 2-6 (acute phase) and 27-31 (1-month phase) following the MVC were used for the current study. RESULTS: Latent growth curve analyses showed that at the acute phase, traumatic stress symptoms followed a reducing trajectory, with significant intercept and negative slope factors. At the 1-month phase, traumatic stress symptoms followed a low-stable trajectory, with a lower intercept and a nonsignificant slope factor. The acute-phase intercept and slope were both positively associated with 1-month symptomatology, such that higher initial symptoms and slower recovery rates were associated with greater traumatic stress symptoms at 1-month post-MVC. Trauma history and peritraumatic perceived life threat were indirectly associated with the 5-days end-of-the-month traumatic stress symptoms, through the mediation of the acute-phase intercept. CONCLUSIONS: An early screen of traumatic stress symptoms in the first few days following trauma exposure, together with trauma history and perceived peritraumatic life threat, may assist in identifying individuals at risk for subsequent posttraumatic psychopathology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 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).

Family resilience among parent-adolescent dyads exposed to ongoing rocket fire.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to examine discrepancies in family resilience between parents and their adolescent offspring and the differences in the predicting variables of family resilience between these two groups in the context of political violence. Toward that aim, we explored the interplay among exposure to security threats, gender, anxiety, individual resilience, self-differentiation, and family resilience. METHOD: We conducted a cross-sectional study, which included 89 dyads of parents and adolescents who had been exposed to missile fire for 13 years, employing the following questionnaires: demographic parameters, exposure to security threats, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Family Resilience Assessment Scale, and the Differentiation of Self-Inventory. RESULTS: Repeated measures ANOVA showed no differences between parents' and adolescents' reports of family resilience. Actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) indicated that in both groups, higher family resilience was predicted by high individual resilience. Parents' family resilience was predicted by high levels of individual resilience and self-differentiation. Adolescents' family resilience was predicted by gender and individual resilience. Adolescents' self-differentiation predicted family resilience only when parents' level of self-differentiation was high. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are discussed in the context of the developmental stage of adolescence in the family life cycle as well as the importance of psychoeducational interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Routine outcome measurement in mental health service consumers: who should provide support for the self-assessments?

This study examined whether mental health community service users completed outcome self-reports differently when assessments were supervised by internal vs. external staff. The examination of potential differences between the two has useful implications for mental health systems that take upon themselves the challenge of Routine Outcome Measurement (ROM), as it might impact allocation of public resources and managed care program planning. 73 consumers completed the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA), a shortened version of the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS), and a functioning questionnaire. Questionnaires were administered, once using support provided by internal staff and once using support provided by external professional staff, with a one-month time interval and in random order. A MANOVA Repeated Measures showed no differences in outcomes of quality of life and recovery between internal and external support. Functioning scores were higher for the internal support when the internal assessments were performed first. Overall, except for the differences in functioning assessment, outcome scores were not determined by the supporting agency. This might indicate that when measuring quality of life and recovery, different supporting methods can be used to gather outcome measures and internal staff might be a good default agency to do this. Differences found in functioning assessment are discussed.