War, media, and emotion: Associations between posttraumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, and emotion regulation.

Objective: Media coverage of violent conflict significantly impacts individuals' mental health. On October 7, 2023, a war erupted between Israel and Hamas, leading to pervasive and distressing media coverage. This brief report examines the relationship between media exposure, emotion regulation, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and anxiety during armed political conflict.

Navigating the battlefield within: Exploring the interplay of political armed conflict, mental health, and emotion regulation.

The study explored the intricate relationship between political armed conflict, mental health outcomes, and emotion regulation strategies, focusing on cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression. Drawing on extensive literature, we examined the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on mental health, particularly post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and anxiety. Using data from a nationally representative sample of 517 Israeli adults surveyed four weeks after the October 7 war began, we conducted path analysis to examine the direct and indirect effects of conflict exposure on mental health outcomes mediated by emotion regulation.

Promoting inclusion for disabled students in healthcare education: Using research-based theatre to enhance knowledge and empathy.

Aim: This study explores and compares the impact of in-person and online versions of a Research-based Theatre production named "Alone in the Ring," aimed at increasing knowledge and fostering positive attitudes towards persons with disabilities in healthcare professions. The study examines changes in attitudes towards disabled persons in healthcare professions, levels of engagement in the play and knowledge about the experiences and challenges of disabled individuals in healthcare professions. It also investigates possible actions to increase inclusion for disabled persons in healthcare education and practice.

Mental Health Outcomes of Arab and Jewish Populations in Israel a Month after the Mass Trauma Events of October 7, 2023: A Cross-Sectional Survey of a Representative Sample.

On October 7, 2023, a war erupted in Israel following a mass terror attack including mass shootings, violent events, civilian abductions, and numerous fatalities, ranking as the third most deadliest terror attack. This cross-sectional, population-based study evaluated the impact on the mental health and utilization of mental health services in the Arab and Jewish populations. Conducted through a virtual platform, the study compared demographic factors, exposure to war-related events, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms among 517 participants in a representative sample of the adult population in Israel (79.

Digital citizenship of children and youth with autism: Developing guidelines and strategies for caregivers and clinicians to support healthy use of screens.

Children and youth with autism use screens in their daily lives and in their rehabilitation programs. Although parents and clinicians experience specific challenges when supporting positive screen time use of children and youth with autism, no detailed information for this group exists. Therefore, this study aimed to develop clear guidelines that are agreed by expert clinicians and parents of children and youth with autism.

Postpartum post-traumatic stress symptoms during the COVID-19 period: exposure and fear as mediating factors.

Post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) following childbirth are common within a stressful environment and are mitigated by social support. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in such symptoms has been reported. The current study aims to longitudinally model the influence of general and pandemic-specific risk and protective factors on the temporal unfolding of symptoms among postpartum women.

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale and its association with actual COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Israel.

Background: The public's willingness to get vaccinated continues to be a source of concern. In this study we assessed the psychometric properties of the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale (C19-VHS) as well as the association between the scale and self-reported past COVID-19 vaccination, approximately two weeks after the national vaccine distribution plan was launched in Israel.

Methods: Participants were recruited via an online survey distributed through social media platforms and mailing lists.

Negotiating legitimacy and belonging: Disabled students' and practitioners' experience.

Introduction: People with disabilities are underrepresented in health professions education and practice. Barriers for inclusion include stigma, disabling discourses, discriminatory programme design and oppressive interactions. Current understandings of this topic remain descriptive and fragmented.

Social support experiences of students and clinicians with disabilities in health professions.

Social support is vital in promoting the health, well-being, and performance of students and clinicians in health professions. Health settings' demanding and competitive nature imposes unique challenges on students and clinicians with disabilities. This paper aims to explore the trajectories and experiences of social support interactions amongst students and clinicians with disabilities in health professions.

Postpartum Depression in COVID-19 Days: Longitudinal Study of Risk and Protective Factors.

COVID-19 impacted the childbirth experience and increased the rates of postpartum depression (PPD). We assessed the longitudinal effects of the pandemic on the rates of PPD and evaluated the PPD causes and symptoms among women who delivered during the first COVID-19 quarantine in Israel. The participants completed online questionnaires 3 (T1) and 6 months (T2) following delivery.

Bringing disability experiences front stage: Research-based theatre as a teaching approach to promote inclusive health education.

Background: Despite efforts to promote inclusion of people living with disabilities in health and human service education and professions, students and clinicians living with disabilities continue to face powerful barriers, arising most notably from the stigma and negative attitudes of their peers. Increased awareness of these lived experiences are needed to affect attitudinal changes and reduce barriers to participation in those professions. To achieve this, information (stories) must be presented to learners in a way that promotes emotional engagement and highlights these issues from multiple perspectives.

Barriers and facilitators for Indigenous students and staff in health and human services educational programs.

Indigenous Peoples are underrepresented in many of the Health and Human Services Educational Programs (HHSEP, e.g.: Nursing, Social Work).

Proximity to COVID-19 patients and role-specific mental health outcomes of healthcare professionals.

Background: Healthcare professionals (HCPs) experience extreme hardships and challenges during the time of COVID-19, due to their professional roles. At the same time, HCPs may experience a feeling of importance as contributing members of the community, which could enhance their well-being alongside COVID-19-work-related stressors.

Aims: This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between HCPs' proximity to COVID-19 patients and role-specific fears of COVID-19 and sense of emotional, social and psychological well-being.

Hope as a predictor for COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

The worldwide effort to recover from the COVID-19 crisis is now at its pinnacle with the putative vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. To reach herd immunity, it has become an urgent global need to understand the emotional factors that drive people's choice to get vaccinated. Therefore, this exploratory study examined emotional motivations as predictors of the decision to receive the vaccine.

Internalizing symptoms impede adolescents' ability to transition from in-person to online mental health services during the 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic.

Introduction: Online mental health services were previously found to be effective in many studies. However, this method was not generally used in Israel. By the end of 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic erupted, forcing mental health services to transition to online meetings to maintain the standard of care.

The use of personal protective equipment as an independent factor for developing depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms in the postpartum period.

Background: New recommendations regarding the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during delivery have changed the maternal birth experience. In this study, we investigated the mental perceived impact of PPE use during delivery on the development of maternal postpartum depression (PPD) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS).

Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective cohort study concerning women who delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic first lockdown period in Israel.

Inflammatory markers are poorly predictive of clinical outcomes among hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Background: Inflammatory markers are often elevated in patients with COVID-19. The objective of this study is to assess the prognostic capability of these tests in predicting clinical outcomes.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study including all patients at least 16 years old with COVID-19 who were admitted from one of five Emergency Departments between March 6th and April 4th, 2020.

"I Can Understand Where They're Coming From": How Clinicians' Disability Experiences Shape Their Interaction With Clients.

Students and clinicians with disabilities are underrepresented in the academic health programs and professional clinical settings. Disability studies foregrounds the unique ways of knowing and being that clinicians with disabilities can offer. Based on a larger grounded theory study of the experiences of students and clinicians with disabilities, this article examines the role that clinicians' abilities to draw on their personal experiences of living with a disability have on their interactions with clients.

Fear of COVID-19 scale: Psychometric characteristics, reliability and validity in the Israeli population.

Mental health clinicians worldwide have been expressing concerns regarding the broad psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, only a few studies have thus far evaluated the degree of fear of COVID-19, partially due to the lack of validated measures. In this study we evaluated the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S), recently developed to assess different aspects of the fear of the pandemic, in a normative population of participants in Israel.

Disabled healthcare professionals' diverse, embodied, and socially embedded experiences.

Disabled people are underrepresented within healthcare professions, although their participation has potential benefits for them personally, and for broader society. Disabled peoples' participation in healthcare professions is limited by assumptions about disability. Little research explores how healthcare professions can be organized to support disabled peoples' employment.