Unpacking access barriers through the health providers' lens among the Arab Bedouin population in Israel.

The Arab Bedouin ethnic minority is considered one of the most vulnerable populations in Israel due to socio-cultural factors that affect their healthcare utilization patterns. By adopting the intersectionality perspective, this research aims to identify gaps and barriers to Bedouins' healthcare services (HCS) utilization, as perceived by healthcare professionals (HCP) serving this community. A qualitative study was conducted from June 2019 to January 2022, involving in-depth semi-structured interviews with thirty-two HPCs working in hospitals and community health centers/clinics in Bedouin villages and towns in Southern Israel.

Communication barriers to optimal access to emergency rooms according to deaf and hard-of-hearing patients and health care workers: A mixed-methods study.

Background: This study aimed to identify communication barriers between health care workers (HCWs) and deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) patients. Both perspectives are offered to provide a comprehensive understanding.

Methods: Two consecutive studies were conducted from 2018 to 2021.

Do Attachment Orientations Relate to Coping with Crises? Lessons from a Cross-Sectional Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study was designed to explore whether attachment orientations were related to distress and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample included 2000 Israeli Jewish adults who answered an online survey during the first phase of the pandemic. The questions referred to background variables, attachment orientations, distress, and resilience.

Conservation of Resources, Psychological Distress, and Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Conservation of Resources (COR) theory suggests that stress results from threatened or actual loss of resources following significant life events. This study used COR theory as the framework to explore the reflection of loss of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress and resilience, in an adult Jewish Israeli population. We examined the association between background variables, stress, loneliness, concern, COVID-19-related post traumatic symptoms (PTS), resilience factors and COR an online survey among 2,000 adults during April 2020.

Inequalities in Trust Levels and Compliance With Physical Distancing During COVID-19 Outbreaks: Comparing the Arab Minority and Jewish Populations in Israel.

This study explores associations between trust in directives and compliance with physical distancing by comparing two populations in Israel. Following two lockdowns, we conducted two cross-sectional surveys among the Arab minority and Jewish citizens of Israel (first survey, = 613; second survey, = 542). We conducted multivariable logistic regression analyses for the association between trust and compliance with physical distancing separately for each group in each survey.

Teaching and Practicing Cognitive-Behavioral and Mindfulness Skills in a Web-Based Platform among Older Adults through the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an acceleration in the development of web-based interventions to alleviate related mental health impacts. The current study explored the effects of a short-term digital group intervention aimed at providing cognitive behavioral and mindfulness tools and skills to reduce loneliness and depression and to increase social support among older adults in Israel. This pilot randomized controlled trial included community-dwelling older adults ( = 82; aged between 65-90 years; 80% female) who were randomized either to an intervention group ( = 64) or a wait-list control group ( = 18).

Changes in General and Virus-Specific Anxiety During the Spread of COVID-19 in Israel: A 7-Wave Longitudinal Study.

We compared 3 hypothetical trajectories of change in both general and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-specific anxiety during the first wave of the spread in the state of Israel: panic (very high anxiety, either from the outset or rapidly increasing), complacency (stable and low anxiety), and threat-sensitive (a moderate, linear increase compatible with the increase in threat). A representative sample of 1,018 Jewish-Israeli adults was recruited online. A baseline assessment commenced 2 days prior to the identification of the first case, followed by 6 weekly assessments.

Matching Digital Intervention Affordances with Tasks: The Case of a Zoom and WhatsApp Mental Health Intervention for Seniors during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

During the first COVID-19 wave, we conducted a Zoom and WhatsApp digital group intervention that promoted community-dwelling seniors' mental health. A total of 82 community-dwelling adults participated in this intervention. Based on the media richness theory (MRT) and the affordances approach, we used netnography to explore how group moderators and technical support team members (n = 9), but not the seniors themselves, perceived the ways Zoom and WhatsApp technological affordances/constraints matched intervention tasks and increased intervention performance.

Development and validation of the Continuous Traumatic Stress Response scale (CTSR) among adults exposed to ongoing security threats.

Background: Current diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) do not include symptoms resulting from exposure to continuous or ongoing traumatic stress. Thus existing assessment tools do not fully capture stress symptoms associated with exposure to threats that extend over months or years. To address this void, we enumerated the symptoms associate with ongoing exposure to stress including those that are distinct from existing PTSD diagnostic criteria.

Perceptions about the accessibility of healthcare services among ethnic minority women: a qualitative study among Arab Bedouins in Israel.

Background: Access to healthcare services has major implications for vulnerable populations' health. Socio-cultural and gender characteristics shape the utilization and access of healthcare services among ethnic minorities worldwide. One such vulnerable ethnic minority is the Arab Bedouin women in Israel.

Evaluation of a Short-Term Digital Group Intervention to Relieve Mental Distress and Promote Well-Being Among Community-Dwelling Older Individuals During the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Study Protocol.

Older individuals are at an increased risk of experiencing adverse social and health consequences due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to manage it, such as social distancing. To promote community-dwelling older individuals' well-being during this time, the aims of the current project are to develop effective strategies in order (a) to increase older individuals' digital literacy, and (b) to help them acquire behavioral and cognitive skills that will improve their coping abilities with the stressful situation created as a result of the pandemic, as well as reducing adverse mental health effects. The project comprises an intervention arm that includes digital group sessions for older individuals meant to improve their digital literacy, promote their effective coping, and relieve their mental distress and loneliness.

A pilot randomized controlled trial of a group intervention via Zoom to relieve loneliness and depressive symptoms among older persons during the COVID-19 outbreak.

While effective in reducing infections, social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak may carry ill effects on the mental health of older adults. The present study explored the efficacy of a short-term digital group intervention aimed at providing seniors with the tools and skills necessary for improving their coping ability during these stressful times. A total of 82 community-dwelling adults aged between 65 aged 90 (M = 72 years, SD = 5.

Culture and personal influences on cardiopulmonary resuscitation- results of international survey.

Background: The ethical principle of justice demands that resources be distributed equally and based on evidence. Guidelines regarding forgoing of CPR are unavailable and there is large variance in the reported rates of attempted CPR in in-hospital cardiac arrest. The main objective of this work was to study whether local culture and physician preferences may affect spur-of-the-moment decisions in unexpected in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Giving a voice to medically vulnerable populations: A mixed-methods investigation of their unique perceptions and needs in emergency situations.

Older adults in poor health represent a growing sector of the population worldwide. These medically vulnerable individuals often tend to be ill-prepared for emergencies. In times of crisis they are at higher risk of experiencing adverse health outcomes and are liable to place an additional burden on health and social care services.

Confidence in Health-Services Availability during Disasters and Emergency Situations-Does it Matter?-Lessons Learned from an Israeli Population Survey.

The association between health and community resilience is well established in the literature. However, maintaining continuity of healthcare services during emergencies, and their contribution in the context of community resiliency have not been sufficiently studied. This study aims to explore the relationship between the public's confidence in the availability of healthcare services during and following emergencies, and community resilience.

Healthcare workers' willingness to respond following a disaster: a novel statistical approach toward data analysis.

Background: The willingness of healthcare workers (HCW) to respond is an important factor in the health system's response capacity during emergencies. Although much research has been devoted to exploring this issue, the statistical methods employed have been predominantly traditional and have not enabled in-depth analysis focused on absenteeism-prone employees during emergencies. The present study employs an innovative statistical approach for modeling HCWs' willingness to respond (WTR) following an earthquake.

Differences in posttraumatic stress characteristics by duration of exposure to trauma.

Ongoing exposure of civilian populations to war and terror is associated with adverse responses beyond those specified in DSM-5 for PTSD. Current PTSD assessment practices are not fully sensitive to the complex symptomatic picture observed among individuals exposed to ongoing stress and are therefore limited for use in these situations. The current survey aimed to portray the posttraumatic characteristics most salient to ongoing exposure to political conflict.

Facilitating emergency hospital evacuation through uniform discharge criteria.

Background: Though hospitals' operational continuity is crucial, full institutional evacuation may at times be unavoidable. The study's objective was to establish criteria for discharge of patients during complete emergency evacuation and compare scope of patients suitable for discharge pre/post implementation of criteria.

Basic Procedures: Standards for patient discharge during an evacuation were developed based on literature and disaster managers.

Leveraging Social Computing for Personalized Crisis Communication using Social Media.

Introduction: The extensive use of social media in modern life redefines social interaction and communication. Communication plays an important role in mitigating, or exacerbating, the psychological and behavioral responses to critical incidents and disasters. As recent disasters demonstrated, people tend to converge to social media during and following emergencies.

An Integrated and Interdisciplinary Model for Predicting the Risk of Injury and Death in Future Earthquakes.

Background: A comprehensive technique for earthquake-related casualty estimation remains an unmet challenge. This study aims to integrate risk factors related to characteristics of the exposed population and to the built environment in order to improve communities' preparedness and response capabilities and to mitigate future consequences.

Methods: An innovative model was formulated based on a widely used loss estimation model (HAZUS) by integrating four human-related risk factors (age, gender, physical disability and socioeconomic status) that were identified through a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological data.

Community Resilience throughout the Lifespan--The Potential Contribution of Healthy Elders.

An increase in the exposure and predisposition of civilian populations to disasters has been recorded in the last decades. In major disasters, as demonstrated recently in Nepal (2015) and previously in Haiti (2010), external aid is vital, yet in the first hours after a disaster, communities must usually cope alone with the challenge of providing emergent lifesaving care. Communities therefore need to be prepared to handle emergency situations.

A study of the workforce in emergency medicine in Israel 2012: what has changed in the last decade?

Objective: In 2003, we published a study on the Israeli workforce in emergency medicine (EM). We repeated the study in 2012 to assess changes in the workforce that have occurred in the interval decade.

Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional study of the physician workforce in EM in Israel in 2012.

Knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and willingness to report to work in an earthquake: A pilot study comparing Canadian versus Israeli hospital nursing staff.

Background: Health practitioners are expected to respond effectively to an earthquake event and provide lifesaving treatment to an influx of casualties. Understanding the factors that may influence nurses' willingness to report (WTR) in different social contexts and preparedness approaches is crucial for improving preparedness of medical facilities.

Methods: A questionnaire based on a previously validated methodology was used to assess demographic characteristics, knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and WTR of nurses after an earthquake.

Load index model: An advanced tool to support decision making during mass-casualty incidents.

Background: In mass-casualty events, accessing information concerning hospital congestion levels is crucial to improving patient distribution and optimizing care. The study aimed to develop a decision support tool for distributing casualties to hospitals in an emergency scenario involving multiple casualties.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review and structured interviews with 20 content experts produced a shortlist of relevant criteria for inclusion in the model.