Achva Academic College

The aim of this study was to examine the case of altruistic kidney donation (AKD) following loss, in light of PTG theory. Loss may facilitate trauma alongside post-traumatic growth (PTG). Although much is known about the motivation for AKD in general, less is known about the motives of bereaved individuals who chose to altruistically donate their kidney post-loss. Employing a narrative approach, 10 bereaved individuals who altruistically donated a kidney were interviewed about their perceptions of the connection between the loss and their decision to donate a kidney post-loss. Content analysis revealed three types of bereaved AKD’s perceived connection between the loss and the donation: explicitly direct, indirect, and implicit. Donation post-loss was characterized by aspects of PTG in three domains: self, other and worldviews. The findings are discussed in light of PTG theory and highlight the possible role of AKD in processes of coping and growth following grief.

Shared traumatic reality has nagative professional effects on mental health providers. The study explores the professional effects of prolonged shared traumatic reality, and the protective role of intergenerational transfer, among Ukrainian psychotherapists during the war with Russia, in the context of their national history of traumatic events. We conducted focus group interviews with 20 Ukrainian therapists who lived and worked in Ukrainian war zones. The recorded transcriptions were analyzed, applying two stages of inductive thematic analysis, and identifying common themes and sub‐themes. The main reported negative effect was compassion fatigue, with secondary traumatization and lack of interpersonal and professional support reported as the dominant risk factors. Positive effects included compassion satisfaction and professional growth. The leading protective factors included active coping and social support, while transgenerational transfer of empowering messages increased coping resources. We concluded that intergenerational transfer could promote coping and positive professional effects, especially in the context of chronic shared traumatic reality, suggested as a new construct. Further studies are suggested.

Students with strong academic competence beliefs have the necessary skill set to succeed academically. These factors lead these students to manage learning challenges better, experience more positive emotions in learning, and have more positive academic, psychological, and emotional outcomes. Drawing on self-determination theory, the current study suggests that these positive academic competence beliefs result in a more favorable perception of teachers' behavior as supportive, which then predicts students' motivation. To investigate the research hypotheses, a total sample of 385 seventh-grade students participated in this study (mean age = 12.2, SD =.39, 52.4% male). Students completed questionnaires regarding their academic competence beliefs, perceived teacher autonomy support, and autonomous and controlled motivation to study at the beginning and end of the school year. A multilevel mediation analysis revealed that students with higher initial academic competence beliefs perceived their teachers as more autonomy-supportive, at the end of the school year. This, in turn, was associated with a higher level of autonomous motivation. The findings highlight the active role of students in shaping their own experiences in class and with teachers and their motivation to study. This constitutes a shift in the traditional focus, which somewhat alleviates the substantial responsibility traditionally placed on teachers' shoulders.

The Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) phenomenon has become increasingly prevalent in the 21st century, fueled by the rise of social media. FoMO, characterized by the apprehension that others may be having more rewarding experiences and a desire to stay continually connected, has significant implications for mental health, particularly among emerging adults. This qualitative study aims to explore the subjective lived experiences of FoMO and the coping strategies employed by emerging adults. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, and thematic analysis was used to interpret the data. The findings revealed that participants experienced FoMO as involving feelings of exclusion, disconnection, and inadequacy upon becoming aware of experiences peers were having. However, FoMO was also perceived as an important signal of unmet needs, prompting reflection on the misalignment between one’s actual life and desired life. FoMO was amplified in contexts involving identity formation and pivotal life choices, such as social, professional (education/work/career), and dating situations. Participants described various spontaneous coping strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and perspective-taking to reframe it constructively, emotional coping through self-soothing, and behavioral approaches like temporarily disconnecting from social media. These self-initiated coping methods suggest a potential for developing new interventions aimed at empowering emerging adults to manage the effects of FoMO on their well-being. While most research emphasizes the connection between FoMO and technology, this study advances the understanding of FoMO by highlighting its characteristics as an everyday experience in various life domains along with ways of coping during the developmental period of emerging adulthood.

The mindful state is commonly characterized by an elevated awareness of the present moment. An intriguing and rather widespread phenomenon that requires the attention to the present moment is Synchronicity Awareness. This phenomenon refers to the sense of a profound psychological connection between an internal event (e.g., thought, image, or dream) and external events. Whereas mindfulness and its underlying cognitive processes have been well documented, synchronicity awareness, despite its deep roots, has been scarcely examined empirically, and little is known about the cognitive mechanisms underlying it. The present study aimed to further validate the recently developed Synchronicity Awareness and Meaning Detection (SAMD) scale and explore its potential relationship with various mindfulness measures. To this end, 572 participants engaged in an online survey, incorporating the SAMD, Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire, Mindful Awareness and Attention Scale, Langer’s Mindfulness Scale, and Encoding Style Questionnaire. The results revealed that synchronicity awareness, meaning detection, and mindfulness are distinct constructs. A significant association between synchronicity and core facets of mindfulness was observed, indicating that participants with higher SAMD scores were more sensitive to inner sensations, more novelty-seeking, and engaged in their actions. Additionally, SAMD scores were linked to internal encoding style, suggesting a top-down processing of experiences. However, synchronicity was not associated with outwards-directed mindful awareness, suggesting that it might involve an intrinsic attentional process, influenced by internal cues. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This study explores whether marital quality mediates the effects of a parenting intervention on preschoolers' conduct problems and effortful control. Using data from 209 children in a two‐wave randomized controlled trial of the Hitkashrut program, participants were assigned to either a 14‐session co‐parent training group or a minimal intervention control group. Intent‐to‐treat analysis revealed that improvements in marital quality significantly mediated the intervention's impact on both conduct problems and effortful control. An alternative model, which hypothesized that changes in child behavior would lead to improvements in marital quality, was not supported, reinforcing the importance of targeting marital dynamics to achieve better child outcomes. These findings highlight the potential of marital‐focused strategies within parenting interventions to foster healthier family environments and improve long‐term developmental trajectories in children.

This chapter delves into the interconnection between spirituality as a character strength and peace in its various forms and manifestations. It offers a comprehensive background on the multifaceted aspects of peace, highlighting their intricate complexities. Furthermore, it underscores the significance of spirituality in individuals’ lives and its correlation with other character strengths, some of which are explicitly spiritual (e.g., awe, forgiveness) while others are spiritually related. Drawing upon these conceptualizations and aiming for a deeper comprehension of the relationship between spirituality and peace, the chapter introduces a multifaceted heuristic spiritual model designed to foster peace across different domains—intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup. This model incorporates a spiritual development framework that can pave the way for holistic levels of spirituality and advocates for adopting a worldview that embraces peace-oriented spiritual beliefs, urging a transformative shift from divisive values and dispositions towards interconnectedness and peaceful ideologies. Moreover, the model suggests leveraging other character strengths alongside spirituality, especially those with spiritual inclinations, as these strengths can be expressions of spirituality. The synergy created by concurrently activating multiple strengths holds the potential for broader and more impactful outcomes than the sum of their individual effects. The chapter concludes with recommendations for further research and practical applications that build upon these insights in order to foster spiritually informed peace initiatives across the three domains.

Appropriate vocabulary selection for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention is crucial to support communication and language development in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Core vocabulary lists are commonly used to guide this process, and there is a need for language-specific consideration. This paper aimed to develop a wordlist for selecting the core vocabulary for AAC intervention for young Hebrew-speaking children with IDD. Five children (age 3;5–8;4) were audio-recorded in naturalistic interactions with an interviewer and family members. Using Levy’s clinical corpus in the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES) and Child Phonology Analyzer (CPA) tools and preestablished codes, wordlists with usage frequencies were extracted and coded for lexeme, lexical categories and functions or content. The percentages of the 20, 50, 100, and 200 most frequent lexemes were calculated for each child and for the five children combined. The top 200 most frequently used lexemes constituted 85% of the composite lexicon. A comparison was made between this study list and a previous list derived from language samples of typically developing (TD). Lexemes representing function words dominated, albeit with a slight preference for content words in children with IDD. Among the content words, children with IDD used more adverbs, while children with TD used more verbs. Implications for AAC core vocabulary are discussed.

Introduction Patient-centered care (PCC) is the preferred health policy approach that emphasizes responding to individual patient preferences, wishes, and needs. PCC requires active patient engagement. While there has been extensive research on physicians' robes, there is limited research on hospital-issued patient gowns during hospitalizations. How does the gown affect the cognitive–emotional experience of hospitalized patients? How is the gown associated with PCC? Methods The sample of this cross-sectional study consisted of 965 patients who were hospitalized at least once during the past year in a tertiary hospital. Measures were previously published. Results The gown was strongly associated with lack of control and increased distress, and was negatively associated with patient proactiveness, engagement, and taking responsibility for self-management of chronic illness. Compared to male patients, female patients wearing the gown had stronger negative emotions and cognitively strong associations with the external locus of control, which inhibited engagement. Discussion The hospital gown is an unacknowledged barrier to achieving PCC, inhibits patient engagement, and reflects the paradoxes of inadvertently excluding patients' needs from hospital practice. The hospital gown must be modified to protect the patient's voice and enhance engagement. Policymakers are called to apply design thinking to facilitate patient participation in decision-making to accord hospital clothing to PCC and improve healthcare delivery.

Background Research suggests that participating in a stuttering simulation‐based learning (SBL) program could help speech–language pathology (SLP) students feel more at ease, less nervous and more capable while interacting with people who stutter. Personality traits may influence SLP students’ self‐efficacy beliefs as well as their level of interest in working with clients who stutter. In particular, we suggest that the combination of low neuroticism and high extraversion, previously linked with a more outgoing, emotionally stable and social personality, may enhance self‐efficacy. Aims To examine the impact of participating in a stuttering SBL program on clinical self‐efficacy (CSE) in managing stuttering therapy among SLP students, as well as its influence on their interest in working with fluency disorders and their associations with personality dimensions. The study also evaluated satisfaction with the SBL experience. Methods & Procedures SLP students ( n = 49) underwent a fluency disorders academic course, self‐reported on CSE, and had an interest in working in the field of stuttering and NEO‐Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI). Post‐stuttering SBL program participation, CSE and level of interest in practice of stuttering were reassessed. Satisfaction with the simulation was also gauged. Outcomes & Results Students interested in working with fluency disorders scored lower in neuroticism and higher in extraversion than their uninterested counterparts. Before the SBL activity, interest ratings were negatively correlated with neuroticism and positively correlated with extraversion. Pre‐SBL neuroticism was negatively correlated with CSE. Following the SBL activity, increased CSE and interest in working with fluency disorders were evident, indicating robust and medium effects of the simulation on those indices, respectively. Post‐SBL neuroticism was also negatively correlated with CSE. Overall, participants reported high satisfaction with the SBL experience. Conclusions & Implications The study suggests SBL is an effective tool for enhancing motivation to work with fluency disorders. Consideration of personality traits and professional interests in designing educational interventions for SLP students, along with tailoring approaches to individual differences, may enhance learning outcomes. The study also highlights the need to differentiate between CSE and objectively assessed clinical competence and the fact that professional development is influenced by various factors. Nonetheless, the positive correlations between personality traits, CSE and satisfaction emphasize the potential of SBL programs in shaping not only clinical skills but also the attitudes and preferences of future SLPs. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on this subject SLPs in the field of stuttering therapy reportedly experience low levels of comfort and professional confidence, possibly due to insufficient clinical experience. According to earlier research, taking part in SBL programs may elevate the CSE of SLP students and help them feel more confident about treating people with stuttering. What this study adds to the existing knowledge In addition to showing the beneficial effects of an SBL activity on SLP students’ self‐efficacy and interest in working in stuttering therapy, our research shows a significant relationship between personality traits and CSE. Specifically, the combination of high extraversion and low neuroticism was found to be associated with higher CSE and higher levels of satisfaction from the SBL. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The study shows that SBL is an effective tool for enhancing motivation to work with fluency disorders. Overall, students who exhibit high extraversion and low neuroticism show higher levels of CSE, greater motivation in stuttering treatment, and higher levels of SBL stratification. Development of future SBL activities and other educational interventions should take into consideration such personality traits, to enhance learning outcomes.

Objectives Older adults use semantic context to generate predictions in speech processing, compensating for aging-related sensory and cognitive changes. This study aimed to gauge aging-related changes in effort exertion related to context use. Design The study revisited data from Harel-Arbeli et al. (2023) that used a “visual-world” eye-tracking paradigm. Data on efficiency of context use (response latency and the probability to gaze at the target before hearing it) and effort exertion (pupil dilation) were extracted from a subset of 14 young adults (21 to 27 years old) and 13 older adults (65 to 79 years old). Results Both age groups showed a similar pattern of context benefits for response latency and target word predictions, however only the older adults group showed overall increased pupil dilation when listening to context sentences. Conclusions Older adults’ efficient use of spoken semantic context appears to come at a cost of increased effort exertion.

The objective of this research is to explore the impact of social media networks on the daily experiences of Arab-Bedouin adolescents. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with of 30 male youths from unrecognized villages in 2023. The outcomes highlight the significance of social media networks as an indispensable communication tool for males within a traditional societal structure, particularly for establishing connections with peers from diverse sectors and religions. The utilization of social media facilitates meaningful and comprehensive interaction between genders, as perceived by teenagers. It also fosters a profound and significant dialogue on an emotional plane, which remains inaccessible in the Bedouin boys' everyday lives.