Haya Itzhaky

Bar Ilan University | BIU · School of Social Work

Although research from a positive psychology perspective is conducted among different populations, few studies have examined the predictors of life satisfaction among young backpackers. The current study focused on young adults (ages 21–30), an age group for whom backpacking treks are a growing phenomenon, during their treks in the Far East and Sou...

The current study focused on risk-taking behaviour among young adults who spent a long period of time outside their home country as backpackers, a growing phenomenon among this age group. Using concepts from Jessor’s problem-behaviour theory (1991), we examined different risk and protective factors as predictors of risk-taking behaviours among youn...

During emerging adulthood, individuals are primarily concerned with themselves. Community participation, however, may help one to mature, and community belonging is important for well‐being. As such, the current study aimed to examine these two components among young‐adult Israeli backpackers abroad. We examined the role of personal (mastery, self‐...

Working with abused children can have positive and negative implications for social workers. Some of these implications have been conceptualized as secondary traumatic stress and vicarious post-traumatic growth. The current study examined the question of whether these two phenomena share similar contributing factors. Based on the social-ecological...

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression are comorbid consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV), and models explain this comorbidity via an intrinsic relationship between them. The current study posits that changes in both disorders may provide a clearer picture regarding the interrelations between them. We examined mut...

Focusing on the unique social characteristics of closed communities, the current study examined the predictors of high-school dropout among Ultraorthodox Jewish youth, focusing on background variables [i.e., individual’s age, family’s religious group affiliation, and other high-school dropout(s) in family]; social resources (i.e., self-esteem and m...

Schools have a significant effect on students' development, and serve as important social agencies for interventions for students facing disasters. However, little is known about the effect of students' school experience itself on their resilience when facing extreme negative events. The present study focused on students who were exposed to terror‐...

This study examined whether there were differences in levels of depression between Arab and Jewish Israeli female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and how various personal and environmental variables contributed to depression. A total of 303 women were selected. T tests were conducted, and no significant differences were revealed. Hierarc...

Researchers have found that intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with low self-rated health (SRH), which is correlated with increased medication usage, and has tremendous social consequences. IPV and low SRH are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, and the current study examined the interrelations between th...

The study used the ecological model of trauma and recovery (Harvey, 1996) to examine the rates of probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among female victims of domestic violence. Five hundred and five participants completed questionnaires upon entering shelters in Israel. Analysis showed that 61% of the participants reported probable PTSD....

This study examined the factors that contribute to the perceived effectiveness of supervision for child welfare workers. Specifically, we examined role characteristics such as: exposure to child abuse cases, years of work experience, and role stress, as well as the supervisory functions of administration, education, and emotional support to effecti...

The chapter presents values, principles and goals that create the conceptual and professional basis of Community practice. The chapter describes the intervening method of the Community practice, challenges facing the profession, and the implications of the changes occurring in communities and societies on the role of the community workers. The Chap...

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the contribution of the process of becoming less religious (BLR), compared with that of the dropout process, to youths’ well-being. The study focused on high school dropouts from Ultraorthodox Jewish communities, where dropout is accompanied by various social repercussions. On the basis of the con...

Psychologists and social workers are usually called into action after natural disasters such as earthquakes, which obviously arouse psychological distress among locals. However, the question of assisting tourists who have also been affected by the disaster has scarcely been studied. In this study, we focused specifically on backpackers who were in...

Community activists, supervised by macro-intervention social workers, can realize the potential to go from passive consumers of social services to producers of appropriate responses to the needs of their communities. While the literature describes the influence of religious and cultural characteristics on the effectiveness of such interventions, th...

Background While extensive research has been done on high-school dropouts’ adjustment, there is little data on dropouts from closed religious communities. Objective This study examines the contribution of personal and social resources to the adjustment of high school dropouts in Ultraorthodox Jewish communities in Israel. Method Using a randomize...

This study examined the contribution of parental conditional regard (PCR) and societal conditional regard (SCR) - divided into positive and negative regard - to high school dropouts' adjustment (i.e., well-being, loneliness, and future orientation) along the different stages of the dropout process. Specifically, the current study focused on dropout...

The aim of the current study was to address a gap in the literature by determining prevalence, specific types of violence, and risk factors of intimate partner violence (IPV) among Israeli born Arab women compared with Israeli born Jewish women. The following measures were compared: demographic and socioeconomic measures; measures relating to the c...

Objective: The current study focused on tourists who were caught in the middle of Nepal's, 2015 earthquake, and survived. We examined the contribution of internal (coping flexibility and emotional regulation) and community resources (sense of belonging to the community) to tourist's level of post traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Method: A cro...

There is a scarcity of research exploring the experiences of foreign travelers exposed to natural disasters while abroad. This qualitative study explored the experiences of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal among international travelers immediately following the earthquake. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 Israeli backpackers who were travelin...

In the present study, ecological theory was used as a basis for predicting depression among women who survive intimate partner violence (IPV). The predictors examined in the study derived from three ecological systems: the microsystem (background variables and frequency of the violence), the ontogenic system (personal resources), and the mesosystem...

When researchers started to explore the cultural context of marriage, studies about how religious beliefs act within the marriage context have emerged. Most studies focused on Christian population, exploring how religiosity shape the nature of the marital relationship. The present study, however, examined the religious dynamics in one’s religious i...

The present study compared secondary traumatization among child protection social workers versus social workers employed at social service departments. In addition, based on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, the study examined the contribution of working in the field of child protection as well as the contribution of background variables, per...

The importance of students' sense of safety to their well-being has been previously established, yet very little is known about their feeling of safety in schools and in other everyday locations. The present study examined the perceived safety in school, and in six other locations, of 1,110 Israeli adolescents. Feelings of safety were compared in s...

The study examined the contribution of personal variables and resources (age, mastery, tolerance for ambiguity, and stressors), environmental resources (support from family and friends, colleague support), and professional-organizational resources (size of caseload with trauma victims, organizational commitment) to secondary traumatization. The sam...

Sense of community includes elements such as sense of belonging, mutual interdependence, trust, shared goals and values, and shared history. It is associated with benefits for both the members and the community and is believed to be stronger in religious minority groups. This qualitative study describes the experiences of the Jewish Orthodox commun...

ABSTRACT This qualitative study examined the intersection of sexual orientation and religion in the Jewish Orthodox community by exploring twenty-two Orthodox Jewish gay men's experiences living in secrecy. Analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with these men revealed 4 primary themes: emotional turmoil, ways of coping, impact on family relatio...

This qualitative study describes the marital relationship experiences of Orthodox Jewish gay men in mixed-orientation marriages. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 men from the northeastern part of North America about their experiences of being gay in their Orthodox religious communities. Spontaneous accounts of their experiences within the...

In recent years, there has been increasing research interest in the negative consequences for therapists of working with trauma victims. In that context, burnout is a major concept used in the literature. One of the main questions examined in the literature relates to the factors that contribute to burnout. This question is particularly relevant to...

Based on systems theory, the current study aimed to examine the relationships between the following sets of variables: input variables—satisfaction with supervision, self-differentiation, and sense of coherence; throughput variables—values and empathy; and the output variable—professional identity of BSW students. Questionnaires were completed by 1...

Until recently, dealing with children at risk in Israeli hospitals was almost exclusively the domain of medical social workers. Suspected cases of abuse or neglect must be identified in real-time, during the child's short stay in the hospital, and the decision of whether or not to report the case, and to whom (law enforcement or welfare authorities...

The study focused on differences between women who left shelters for battered women and returned to their partners, versus those who stayed in the shelter for over 3months. The study was conducted in battered women’s shelters in Israel, and examined the contribution of women’s internal resources (self-esteem and empowerment) to their life satisfact...

The study examined the contribution of macro-intervention social workers to volunteer activists from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Volunteer activists who were supervised by macro-intervention social workers were compared with those who were not supervised. The comparisons related to internal variables (leadership competence and client parti...

The contribution of selected background variables (age, gender), internal resources (mastery, emotional maturity), external resources (parental and peer support), and emotional distress to alcohol and drug use among 160 Israeli Jewish urban high school students were examined. Analyzing the variables with hierarchical regression, emotional distress...

The study examined the contribution of personal and community resources to personal well-being and community well-being (sense of belonging to the community) among community activists in neighbourhoods of low socio-economic status (SES) in Israel. The activists, who represent the residents of their communities, are supervised by macro-intervention...

The fi rst investigation of the characteristics of Israeli ultra- Orthodox community activists, the study examines the contribution of personal and social resources to the effectiveness of community activity serving community development. The sample comprised 163 volunteers active in promoting citizens rights through democratic processes. The varia...

The contribution of students’ relationships with their homeroom teachers to their ability to cope with terror and specifically to posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth was studied. Participants consisted of 1101 Israeli high school students who lived under constant terror attacks. Positive relationships with homeroom teachers were...

This study investigated negative and positive emotional outcomes among civilians exposed to ongoing terror. The measures included direct, indirect and subjective exposure to terror, human resources, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS), distress and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The results indicate that whereas direct exposure is not related to the o...

In recent years, Israeli youth have been exposed to ongoing missile attacks in the southern region of the country. One of the outcomes of exposure to this kind of stress situation is posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Based on an ecological approach, the study focused on examining the contribution of adolescents’ environmental resources to PTSD,...

This study examined the contribution of the personal and social resources to community activists' competence. The research population included 163 activists who engage in volunteer activity in traditional communities. The findings revealed that the activists' gender, supervision by community‐organizers, sense of mastery, sense of belonging to the c...

The first experience of sex is a significant life event for men and women. Studies investigating first-time sex focus largely on relationships at a young age and among teenagers, whereas studies of that experience in the context of marriage are extremely sparse and focus mainly on clinical population of unconsummated marriage. The authors explore t...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on comparing background characteristics, self‐efficacy, and family support of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and of veteran Israelis who join therapeutic communities in Israel, and their adjustment to these communities. The aim of this research was to examine whether therapeutic communi...

• The aim of the study was to examine perceptions of micro- and macro-level role effectiveness and the factors that contribute to those perceptions among social workers in rural communities that are undergoing an economic crisis. We also examined the correlations between these perceptions and various components of social workers’ role behavior, as...

The present article attempts to shed light on the direct and indirect contribution of personal resources and community indices to Sense of Cohesion among activists engaging in community volunteer work. The sample comprised 481 activists. Based on social systems theory, three levels of variables were examined: (1) inputs, which included personal res...

Based on the person-in-environment theory, this article presents empirical findings on the contribution of organizational resources (satisfaction with supervision), personal resources (empathic concern, self-differentiation, and sense of coherence), and environmental resources (values) to the professional identity of social work students. The sampl...

This article addresses courtship and mate selection patterns of young adults who belong to two parallel cultures: traditional and modern. In-depth interviews with 36 Modern-Orthodox Jewish men and women during their first year of marriage reveal unique considerations for mate selection and the dynamic flow between cultural systems. The findings sho...

Violence through world terrorism has disrupted the lives of millions worldwide. Israeli citizens have been targeted for violent terrorist attacks for many years, making Israel a natural laboratory for studying terrorism and its effect on both direct and indirect victims. Because of their front line position in coping with the aftermath of terrorism...

The effects of living under long-term bombardment were studied among 1,004 adolescent students in Israel. The study was based on the theoretical framework of the conservation of resources and examined differences between boys and girls who live in high and low socioeconomic environments. The findings revealed that students from a low socioeconomic...

This study examines differences between domestic violence therapists in Israel who had received specific training in the field and those who had not, with regard to the following variables: sense of role competence, secondary traumatization, and burnout. In addition, the study examines the correlation between the therapists' satisfaction with super...

The study examined the relationship between personal resources (self-esteem and mastery), social resources (social, colleague, and managerial support) and perceived role competence on the one hand, and secondary traumatization and burnout on the other among family violence therapists. The research population consisted of 143 social workers employed...

Background and Purpose: Civilian populations experiencing recurrent terror attacks may demonstrate different outcomes in comparisons to victims of acute exposure. A consistent finding in previous studies is that subjective perception of exposure (PTSD criteria A1, as defined by the DSM-IV-TR) has a greater impact on emotional symptoms than the actu...

Our study dealt with the positive and negative implications of working with victims of family violence on therapists in terms of secondary traumatization, vicarious traumatization, and growth. In addition, we examined positive and negative changes that the therapists experienced in themselves, their lives, and their families as a result of their wo...

The article deals with the contribution of background variables (gender, years of residence in a treatment center, and family status), internal resource (self-esteem), and external resources (peer, family and significant other support, sense of belonging to the community) to life satisfaction among adolescents living in residential treatment center...

The article discusses the differences between normative and at-risk adolescents with regard to the contribution of background variables (gender and age), internal resources (mastery and emotional maturity), and external resources (parental support and peer support) to their emotional adjustment. The results indicate lower levels of mastery, emotion...

The purpose of this study was to examine differences, as perceived by supervisees, between supervisors employed within the same organization and their supervisees (“internal supervisors”) and supervisors employed outside their supervisees' organizations (“external supervisors”). It was hypothesized that differences would be found between them on fa...

The article examines the effectiveness of a community programme designed for Jewish Israeli mothers who have been exposed to terrorism. The aim of the intervention was to empower the women and increase their sense of belonging to the community, and to reduce stress symptoms, mainly by encouraging and facilitating their participation in community ac...

It is commonly assumed that exposure to terrorism may lead to violent behavior, but there is little empirical research on the relationship between these two variables. In the present paper, we examined the extent to which exposure to terrorism contributes to violent behavior among adolescents. In addition, we considered the role of environmental fa...

Psychotherapeutic interventions for individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders have been extensively reviewed and studied (Fromm-Reichmann, 1950; Searles, 1965; Rosenfeld, 1988) and have recently received further attention (Kanwal, 1997; Silver, 2001; Spinelli, 2001). Nevertheless, there are almost no updated articles on the supervision of this...

This study examined factors that contribute to effectiveness of social work for victims of terrorism, as reflected by a reduction of mental distress and promotion of personal growth in clients. Participants were 148 pairs of social workers and clients. Social workers completed questionnaires that assessed the intervention characteristics (micro- an...

The article presents a study that examined the contribution of empowerment (personal, political, and abilities) and background variables (age, religiosity, and marital status) of social workers to promoting participation among two groups of clients: long-term residents of Israel, and new immigrants. The findings revealed that only political empower...

The study explored the relationship between internal resources (self-esteem, sense of mastery), external resources (social support) and the adjustment of 112 adolescents living in a typical Israeli residential treatment center. All had been exposed to abuse and neglect in their familial homes. Although none of the resources was related significantl...

Terrorism and its aftermath have become part of the Western way of life, and social workers have a central role to play in helping affected families and their communities. Drawing on community-based experience in Israeli communities, the authors examine the planning of multidisciplinary teams and how their planning was put into effect in their comm...

This study examines changes in internal resources (empowerment and self-esteem), well-being (life satisfaction and hope), and integration in the shelter (participation and commitment) experienced by women at domestic violence shelters in Israel. The participants were compared at two points in time—1 week and 3 months after their arrival at the shel...

This article focuses on social workers and nurses who complement each other's work in providing health care services to their patients. The professional literature suggests that understanding the professional differences between social workers and nurses may lead to more collaboration between these groups. This study empirically compares empowermen...

Too often communities remain silent in response to cases of sexual assault of children. Members of the community are afraid to report such incidents and victims are reluctant to seek and accept treatment. The purpose of the paper is to examine whether application of a social marketing approach may serve as an effective means for motivating communit...

This article focuses on supervision of social workers who feel despair and hopelessness in treating terminally ill patients. The emotional difficulties that may lead to these feelings are discussed. A special model of supervision that relates to hope as a strategy to help social workers cope with such difficulties is presented. The model suggests g...

To help low-income women immigrants to Israel from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union adapt, an interdisciplinary team prepared and conducted a community program whose goals were to empower the women and help them to become involved in the community and to become leaders. The outcomes of the project were favorable. All the women became involved i...

This study considers the impact of social support upon the psychological empowerment of community activists. Although it has been clearly shown that the human and personal resources that individual activists bring to their voluntary activity and the inputs of the agencies and associations in which they are active both contribute to the activists' e...

Current social work theory distinguishes between the traditional pathology-oriented perspective and the strengths perspective. This paper posits that the working model of community social workers is grounded in a strengths perspective, which, in relation to community work, is compatible with and supplementary to empowerment models, providing a meth...

This article describes a community organization program and its tangible results in a stigmatized neighborhood in the center of Israel. The program lasted six years; its central goal was the autonomy of the community, the empowerment of its residents, and collaboration among the human services workers and between them and the resident leaders. The...

While the link between pregnancy and therapy has been studied, it appears to have remained largely unexplored in the field of supervision. This preliminary research examines the effect of the supervisor's pregnancy on her supervisees and on the supervisory process. The findings of this study indicate that pregnancy affects both supervisees and thei...

In Israel, community programs have been set up with the purpose of improving the functioning and empowerment of school-age children (6–12) who are raised in recognized “multiproblem” families. The most common are after-school programs that combine therapy and education. The community after-school treatment programs enable the children to continue t...

The primary aim of this article is to determine the effectiveness of community intervention in the case of child sexual abuse. The article describes and analyses an actual case in a small urban community in Israel. After several incidents of child sexual abuse, much of it incestuous, were brought to light in the community, they were discussed openl...

Psychodynamic therapy with psychotics has been reviewed and studied by different analysts such as Searles (1965), Rosenfeld (1988), and others. Nevertheless, there are almost no updated articles on supervision of this therapy. The article addresses this issue and the different aspects of supervision of psychodynamic therapy of psychotics. Therapy-r...

The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of two central variables of supervision-empathy and learning styles-on perceived effectiveness of student supervision, as well as to examine the relationship between them. Two learning styles (people-oriented style and task-oriented style) are positively, significantly correlated with two facto...

The study discussed in this article examines the effects of client participation on empowerment, with special emphasis on gender. A group of community activists in a low-income neighborhood in central Israel was assessed by community participation on three scales and their perceived empowerment on two scales. The findings suggest different relation...

The implications of social workers keeping secrets and hiding information from their supervisors in the course of the supervision process are discussed. Based on Winnicot s (1965) approach, the secret is discussed as a way to create space for growth and independence. A comparison is made between the relationship in supervision and the process of th...

Although much of the empowerment research and literature deals with the individual in his immediate environment, there is clearly a branch that focusses more on the wider community and sociopolitical empowerment. Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991) developed an integrative measure of sociopolitical control containing two indices—Leadership Competence and...

This article explores empowerment among parents of children with disabilities. Specifically, it deals with how changes in parents' patterns of involvement and participation lead to empowerment. Parents of children with disabilities in Israel who are involved in voluntary organizations for the disabled were surveyed in relation to three components o...

This paper deals with the principles of Martin Buber's dialogue and its possible application in social work supervision. The act of supervision provides the two types of encounters that Buber describes: “I-It” and “I-Thou.” The encounters are found throughout the entire supervisory process and are essential to it. The characteristics of this dialog...

The paper discusses the relationship between supervisory and learning styles among social work field instructors and students. The findings of research conducted in 1996 among 128 supervised students and 80 field instructors at an Israeli university suggest that the “personal” style is preferred by both instructors and students. The findings reveal...

The literature on supervision discusses processes occurring in the supervisor-supervisee relationship that are similar to, and have parallels in, a parent-child relationship. This slipping from the one type of relationship into the other can interfere with the process of supervision. This shift to the supervisee feeling like a child and the supervi...

A group of some 200 refugees, forced to leave a totalitarian, fundamentalist, Middle Eastern regime, took part in a transitional program in a European city before their eventual move to a Western country. Part of their activities during this 11-12-month period revolved around a community center created for this population, which offered, in part, v...

A group of some 200 refugees, forced to leave a totalitarian, fundamentalist, Middle Eastern regime, took, part in a transitional program in a European city before their eventual move to a Western country. Part of their activities during this 11-12-month period revolved around a community center created for this population, which offered, in part,...

This paper reports the findings of a study that examined gender differences of local community drug-prevention workers (CDPW) regarding client participation, coping and job satisfaction, and the correlation between them. The data yielded an overall difference between men and women for job satisfaction relating to 4 coping techniques: emotion-focuse...

The role of social workers working with HIV infected persons in hospitals is complex and laden with sources of professional stress, including those related to the hospital framework and environment and personal stress related to patients, their families, and the workers themselves. The paper identifies these factors of stress and discusses the func...

This article explores empowerment among the disabled as a crucial element in promoting change among families and individuals who are at risk. Individuals with disabilities in Israel who provided volunteer work in organizations for the disabled were surveyed in relation to three components of empowerment: (a) family, (b) services, and (c) community....

Social work supervision is a relationship which may create conflict and raise tension in practice settings. Within this context, some manifestations of resistance can be seen as normative responses associated with other mechanisms of adaptation. This article examines how the roles of supervisor, social worker and client contribute to resistant beha...

During the past decade, there has been a proliferation of alcohol and other drug use in Israel. In order to combat this problem, the Israeli government, in 1988, created the National Anti-Drug Authority, a government agency whose responsibilities include the coordination of all prevention, treatment, and research activities that are directed toward...

This study examines the differences in organizational variables among field instructors holding positions on three organizational levels: direct workers, supervisors, and executives. Social work students from Canada and Israel reported their view of field instructors on self-administered questionnaires. The students of field instructors holding man...

In this study of 93 members of neighbourhood committees, from 31 urban, mainly lower-class neighbourhoods in the greater Tel-Aviv area, the roles played by neighbourhood representative organizations, as seen by organization activists, are examined. These roles are divided into expressive and instrumental, and, following Wandersman (1981), their cor...

Resistance is a normative response interwoven in the process of supervision. Like other responses, it can generate tension and conflict. When faced with resistance, the supervisor needs to activate a range of supervisory and teaching skills to ensure the resistance can be utilized for the professional development of the supervisee. Techniques are s...

It is widely agreed that supervision has an emotional load which should be dealt with in the supervisory relationship as means of increasing effectiveness in the learning process. This situation makes it difficult for the supervisor to keep adequate distance between supervision and therapy. Current literature on this subject offers no tools for thi...

The author examines job satisfaction among nonprofessional women workers in welfare service organizations. Nonprofessional women workers are in a special position in this regard on two counts: first, they are residents of the neighborhoods in which they work; and, second, they generally have had no previous work experience. In this study, variables...

The literature on community activity has largely ignored the housing unit of the apartment building. However, as urbanization continues and more people live in multiple family dwelling units, its importance in community work and in social work in general can only increase. Using data from 532 residents in the greater Tel Aviv area, this paper exami...

In recent years, participation in social services has re-emerged as a solution to many of society's problems throughout the world. The study described here tries to test empirically the assumption that client participation and community belonging lead to improved output. A random sample of clients in two models of community centres was chosen. The...