Secondary traumatic stress, psychological distress, sharing of traumatic reminiscences, and marital quality among spouses of Holocaust child survivors

In this study, we examined the issue of secondary traumatic stress (STS) among spouses of Holocaust survivors who were children during the World War II. STS is defined as comprising the same components as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), except that the person evidencing the symptoms has not actually been exposed to the traumatic event(s), but has developed them as a result of caring for someone with PTSD. Participants were 90 couples who completed self-report questionnaires regarding posttraumatic symptoms, psychological distress, and marital quality. The results showed that about one-third of the spouses suffered from some degree of STS symptoms. Secondary traumatic stress symptoms and psychological distress among spouses were significantly related to hostility, anger, paranoia, and interpersonal sensitivity in the survivor, but unrelated to whether the survivor had shared his/her reminiscences with the spouse. Female spouses were found to suffer more distress than male spouses, especially when their partner suffered high levels of PTSD. The results suggest that STS is, to a large degree, related to the demands of living with a symptomatic survivor, possibly more than to the empathic element thought to be central to this syndrome.     

Holocaust child survivors and child sexual abuse

This study utilized a qualitative analysis of child survivors of the Holocaust who were sexually abused during World War II. The research study aimed to give this specific group of survivors a voice and to explore the impact of multiple extreme traumas, the Holocaust and childhood sexual abuse, on the survivors. Twenty-two child survivors of the Holocaust who were sexually abused during the war completed open-ended interviews. The data was qualitatively analyzed according to Tutty, Rothery, and Grinnell's (1996) guidelines. Three major themes were found: issues relating to the sexual abuse trauma, survivors' perceptions of the abuse, and survivors' general perspectives towards life. The identity of the offenders, Jewish or non-Jewish, determined the survivors' feelings towards themselves, the perpetrators, and about the worth of life.     

Gendered Representations of Male and Female Social Actors in Iranian Educational Materials

This research investigates the representations of gendered social actors within the subversionary discourse of equal educational opportunities for males and females in Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) books. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA) as the theoretical framework, the authors blend van Leeuwen’s (Texts and practices: Readings in critical discourse analysis, Routledge, London, 2003) ‘Social Actor Network Model’ and Sunderland’s (Gendered discourses, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, 2004) ‘Gendered Discourses Model’ in order to examine the depictions of male and female social actors within this gendered discourse. The gendered discourse of equal opportunities was buttressed by such representations within a tight perspective in proportion to gender ideologies prevailing in Iran. Resorting to CDA, we can claim that resistance against such gendered discourse in Iranian EFL textbooks militates against such gender norms. These representations of male and female social actors in school books are indicative of an all-encompassing education, reinforcing that the discourse of equal opportunities is yet to be realized in the education system of Iran.     

“There is no future in it”: Pandemic and ride-hailing hustle in Africa

This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ride-hailing drivers in Africa. It argues that, although ride-hailing offers paid work to some African workers, the commodified and informalized nature of this work results in poor job quality, the effects of which were greatly amplified during the pandemic. Drawing on a mixed methods approach involving in-depth interviews with ride-hailing drivers in Nairobi and digital ethnography, it also provides accounts of drivers' hustles to demonstrate strategies of resilience, reworking and resistance among informal workers. The article concludes by highlighting the need for adequate regulatory frameworks and on-the-ground solidarity networks to ensure decent working conditions, and to push back against precarity in the gig economy.     

Applying a Systemic Procedure to Locate Career Decision‐Making Difficulties

Locating clients' career decision‐making difficulties is one of the first steps in career counseling. The authors demonstrate the feasibility and utility of a systematic 4‐stage procedure for locating and interpreting career decision‐making difficulties by analyzing responses of 626 college students (collected by Tai, 2007) to the Career Decision‐making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ; Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996). In addition, the responses of 2 students selected from this group are individually analyzed and interpreted. The procedure makes it possible to map the various career decision‐making difficulties of undergraduate students and tailor the appropriate career counseling intervention to the unique needs of clients.     

Financial decision making in collective society—A field test on Israeli kibbutz members and city residents

This comparison of Israeli kibbutz members to city residents examines how of individualistic/collective society affects financial decision making. Findings revealed that kibbutz members are more risk averse and discount the future more than city residents, undermining the assumption that collective society accords a safety net. We claim that the collective financial management of the kibbutz reduces individuals’ financial knowledge and experience, causing them to be more risk averse in financial decisions, and thus overpowering the safety net offered by the collective society. In addition, we argue that despite privatization, individuals still operate according to collective ideas in handling their personal finances, but less than before the onset of the privatization process.     

Validity of the microsoft kinect system in assessment of compensatory stepping behavior during standing and treadmill walking

Background

Rapid compensatory stepping plays an important role in preventing falls when balance is lost; however, these responses cannot be accurately quantified in the clinic. The Microsoft Kinect? system provides real-time anatomical landmark position data in three dimensions (3D), which may bridge this gap.

Methods

Compensatory stepping reactions were evoked in 8 young adults by a sudden platform horizontal motion on which the subject stood or walked on a treadmill. The movements were recorded with both a 3D-APAS motion capture and Microsoft Kinect? systems. The outcome measures consisted of compensatory step times (milliseconds) and length (centimeters). The average values of two standing and walking trials for Microsoft Kinect? and the 3D-APAS systems were compared using t-test, Pearson’s correlation, Altman-bland plots, and the average difference of root mean square error (RMSE) of joint position.

Results

The Microsoft Kinect? had high correlations for the compensatory step times (r?=?0.75–0.78, p?=?0.04) during standing and moderate correlations for walking (r?=?0.53–0.63, p?=?0.05). The step length, however had a very high correlations for both standing and walking (r?>?0.97, p?=?0.01). The RMSE showed acceptable differences during the perturbation trials with smallest relative error in anterior-posterior direction (2-3%) and the highest in the vertical direction (11–13%). No systematic bias were evident in the Bland and Altman graphs.

Conclusions

The Microsoft Kinect? system provides comparable data to a video-based 3D motion analysis system when assessing step length and less accurate but still clinically acceptable for step times during balance recovery when balance is lost and fall is initiated.

     

Overseas Foreign Workers in Israel: Policy Aims and Labor Market Outcomes1

The declared aim of the Israeli government, since 1996, was to reduce radically the presence in Israel of foreign overseas workers within five years. This aim has not been achieved due to a counteracting policy: yielding to strong political pressure, the government introduced regulations that virtually indentured legal overseas foreign workers indefinitely to their employers. This depressed their wages and transformed their employment into a source of easy gains, greatly increasing the demand for them and encouraging legal workers to turn illegal. As a result, their numbers have not declined significantly, even though the Israeli economy has been on a downtrend, most of the time, since 1997.     

Proletarian Immigrants in Israel, 1948–1961

This study deals with the factors which determined the odds of Israeli immigrants becoming proletariat during the first decade of statehood. It is suggested that the factors which determine whether immigrants enter the proletariat or not are structural. Immigrants trom lesser-developed, non-industrialized countries are more likely than others to become or to remain proletariat. Class positions in the countries of immigration and emigration are compared, and various factors are examined as causes of the proletariat position. Such factors include conditions of production in the country of emigration, level of eduratirin, and year of immigration.