Intercultural differences in parental perceptions of children's cancer.

Purpose: Cultural influences on parental perceptions of their children's cancer effect familial coping and adjustment. We investigated parental perceptions of their child's illness severity and treatment among Jewish Israeli and Arab (Palestinian Israelis and Palestinians from the West Bank /Gaza) parents of pediatric oncology patients to better understand possible cultural differences and similarities.

Methods: During this mixed-methods cross sectional study, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire was completed by 205 parents of children receiving treatment in four medical centers throughout Israel.

From Survival to Growth - The Coping Experience of Mothers of Children with Disabilities During a Global Crisis: The Case of COVID-19.

This study explored the coping experiences of mothers of children with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 mothers. The data were thematically analyzed to gain in-depth understanding of their coping experiences.

"They must get to know the individual very well": relationship-building of family and volunteer supporters in supported decision-making schemes.

Purpose: Supported decision-making (SDM) is an emerging and innovative alternative to substitute decision-making practices. While relationships are pivotal in establishing proper and effective SDM, scant research has examined these relationships in-depth. This study explores how decision-making supporters perceive relationships embedded in SDM for adults with disabilities.

Israeli social workers' recommendations on residential settings for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Background: People with intellectual disabilities have the right to live in the community. As social workers have an important role in decisions regarding residential settings, this study examined their recommendations regarding residential living arrangements of individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Method: Using a factorial survey approach 174 social workers were presented with true-to-life vignettes and asked to provide their recommendations regarding housing in community apartments, hostels (large group homes) and meonot (large institutions).

Perspectives of adolescents with disabilities and their parents regarding autonomous decision-making and self-determination.

Background: Parents' promotion of autonomous decision-making (PADM) is essential for adolescents with disabilities and constitutes the basis for maturation of self-determination (SD). SD develops based on adolescents' capacities and the opportunities offered to them at home and at school, to make personal decisions regarding their life.

Aim: Examine the associations between the PADM and SD of adolescents with disabilities from their own perspective and that of their parents.

Israeli soldiers' intentions and actions toward seeking mental health help: Barriers and facilitators.

Background: While military settings may increase psychological distress, soldiers frequently avoid seeking professional help. This study aimed to examine barriers and facilitators associated with intentions to seek help and actually seeking help from a mental health officer (MHO) and how these differ among soldiers who had sought help in the past and those who had not.

Method: This cross-sectional study included 263 combat and noncombat soldiers.

Meeting the unmet needs of disabled adults with cerebral palsy.

This commentary is on the original article by Manikandan et al. on pages 1270–1280 of this issue.

Burden and Growth during COVID-19: Comparing Parents of Children with and without Disabilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to contain it have had a disproportionate impact on families with young children, especially with disabilities. This study examined factors associated with burden and growth among parents of young children in Israel, while comparing parents of children with and without disabilities. We hypothesized that the association between family functioning, informal social support, and perceived adequacy of educational services and burden and growth would be moderated by disabilities.

"Together in a pressure cooker": Parenting children with disabilities during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Background: COVID-19 has had a disproportionate and unprecedented impact on children with disabilities, their parents and families. This impact has been particularly evident during periods of lockdowns and severe restrictions.

Objective: This study employed the social model of disability to illuminate negative and positive experiences of Israeli parents of children with disabilities during the first COVID-19 lockdown, as well as the way social environments, particularly educational and welfare services, shape that experience.

Between the convention and conventional practice: Israeli social workers' recommendations regarding the legal capacity of people with disabilities.

Background: Following the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD), various countries have recently amended their legal capacity laws with the aim of restricting the use of guardianship and increasing the use of other, less restrictive practices, mainly supported decision making. As social workers have a key role in carrying out these reforms, this study examines how Israeli social workers make legal capacity-related decisions.

Method: Semi-structured interviews with 27 Israeli social workers.

Correction: Can self-efficacy mediate between knowledge of policy, school support and teacher attitudes towards inclusive education?

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Israeli social workers' recommendations on guardianship and supported decision-making: Examination of client and social worker factors.

We examined social workers' recommendations regarding the possible appointment of a guardian, a supported decision maker (SDM), or neither for persons with disabilities. Social workers (N = 328) were presented with four vignettes that contained factors potentially relevant to guardianship and SDM judgments. They expressed higher support of SDM and maintaining the status quo (without a guardian or SDM) and lower support for guardianship.

Can self-efficacy mediate between knowledge of policy, school support and teacher attitudes towards inclusive education?

Background: While research has focused on understanding teachers' attitudes towards the inclusion of children with special educational needs into general education classrooms, there are lacunae that have yet to be addressed. This study examined the association between perceived self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion among elementary school teachers. The study also examined the role of teachers' self-efficacy as a mediating variable between knowledge of inclusion policy, perception of school support and teachers' attitudes towards inclusion.

Activism, Growth, and Empowerment of Israeli Parents of Children With Disabilities.

Traditionally, studies on parenting children with disabilities have focused mostly on experiences of stress. More recently, studies have turned to examining parental coping from the perspective of strength, focusing on the ability to achieve growth and empowerment. Most studies, however, have not examined parental activism as a coping mechanism.

Cooperation or Tension? Dyadic Coping in Cystic Fibrosis.

Following a rise in the life expectancy of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, many adults with CF form couple relationships. Yet, dyadic coping has not been previously examined in people with CF. This study examined how adults with CF and their partners cope as a couple with the illness, and what meanings each partner and the couple as a unit attribute to the experience.

Information and communication technologies: where are persons with intellectual disabilities?

Individuals with disabilities are entitled to equal access to information and communication technologies (ICT), including the Internet. The study to which this commentary refers has shown that over time (between 2003 and 2015), Internet access by persons with disabilities has increased, but a gap still exists between people with and without disabilities. One population that has been excluded from this study is that of individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Attitudes toward guardianship, social work goals, and perspectives of disability among social work students.

: Guardianship of people with disabilities has been under growing scrutiny, leading some welfare states to offer supported decision-making as a legal alternative. This study examined the attitudes of Israeli social work students toward guardianship and supported decision-making and the relationship between these attitudes and the perceived importance of social work goals, as mediated by perceptions of disability.: Participants were 414 undergraduate and graduate level social work students from Israel.

Help-Seeking by Parental Caregivers of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities and Dual Diagnosis.

This study examined the roles of stigma and of enabling factors in help-seeking by parental caregivers of individuals with intellectual disabilities and dual diagnosis. Questionnaires were completed by 195 family caregivers. Lower family stigma was related to higher personal enabling factors (e.

"It opened up a whole new world for me": Experiences of military commanders in employing individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Background: Research on supported employment for individuals with intellectual disabilities has focused mainly on its effect on employees. Scant research has assessed the influence on employers and on the work setting. This study focused on a unique program to foster the employment of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the Israeli military and examined the effect of the program on the employers (military commanders) and on the military units.

On self-identity: the process of inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the military.

Purpose: Identity development among individuals with disabilities may depend on their being included in central institutions in society. The centrality of the military in Israeli society makes it a highly important setting for inclusion and identity development. We examined the self-identity of young adults with intellectual disabilities who serve in the "Equal in Uniform" project.

Perceptions towards disability among social work students in Israel: Development and validation of a new scale.

Over the last decades, the disability movement has been advocating for a paradigmatic shift in how disability is perceived and managed: from a medical or individual perspective focusing on the person's body and mind to a social perspective emphasizing the context and barriers of disability. However, we still know little about the perceptions of helping professionals, particularly social workers who work closely with disabled people. Thus, the aim of the current study is to develop and validate a scale-Perceptions Toward Disability Scale (PTDS)-to measure how social workers view disability: as an individual or social category.

Social inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the military.

Background: Despite policies advocating the social inclusion of persons with disabilities in all settings that are a part of everyday life within society, individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) are usually excluded from service in the military.

Aims: This study examined the meaning of service in the military for individuals with ID from the perspective of various stakeholder groups.

Methods And Procedures: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 31 individuals with ID, 36 relatives, and 28 commanders.

Guardianship law versus supported decision-making policies: Perceptions of persons with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities and parents.

Article 12 of the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes all persons with disabilities as having legal capacity in all areas of life. However, in adherence to the Israeli Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law (1962), many persons with intellectual disability (ID) or mental illness (MI) have these rights revoked because of the appointment of a guardian. Little is known about these persons' perceptions about guardianship and supported decision making (SDM).

Stigma in the Area of Intellectual Disabilities: Examining a Conceptual Model of Public Stigma.

Studies in the area of intellectual disability (ID) stigma are few and atheoretical. This study examined the adequacy of the conceptual framework of stigma from the mental illness field regarding ID. Telephone interviews were conducted with a nationally representative sample of 304 adults in Israel.