Search

Aim: Using the case of Israel, we examine the confluence of current philosophies of health care along with the historical trends of health promotion/disease prevention services to consider strategies for increasing inclusiveness and for updating and improving their service delivery. Background: Health services in Israel are at a crossroads. Plans to integrate the historic, nurse‐operated, nationwide programme, providing health promotion/disease prevention services to pregnant women and young children for all residents (Tipat Halav) into the National Health Service System's existing Sickness Funds are under discussion. Sources of evidence: Using a discourse approach, this paper examines the current and historical context of health promotion/disease prevention services. Our history shows an increasingly treatment‐based perspective and dwindling support for inclusive services. In the current health system, Tipat Halav nurses solely provide inclusive health promotion/disease prevention services to pregnant women and young children. Informed by the World Health Organization, a reorientation to health promotion/disease prevention is essential in an ageing society where chronic rather than infectious diseases are the reigning health problems. Conclusion: Israel needs to reorganize the health system using a public health approach that both incorporates existing structures and establishes new ones, such as creating a network to elicit community input, and instituting nurse‐operated clinics designed to provide health promotion/disease prevention services for all ages and all residents. Implications for health and nursing policy: The newly created health system framework demands activism among all health professionals to legislate for an inclusive, holistic orientation. Master's level clinical programmes in community health nursing are vital to ensure the provision of optimal health promotion/disease prevention services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To identify variables that can predict proficiency in powered mobility use for children in young adults.Method: Participants included 80 children and young adults (42 males, 38 females; mean age 10y 2mo, [SD 5y 1mo]; range: 2-22y) with cerebral palsy, neuromuscular disease, and spinal cord injury who participated in the ALYN Hospital Powered Mobility Lending Program from 2009 to 2016. Data were collected and compared before and after participation in the program and powered mobility levels were determined by the Israeli Ministry of Health (MOH) Powered Mobility Proficiency Test. Multivariate logistic regression analysis followed by a bootstrapping procedure that was based on 1000 samples were used to determine if the variables were predictive of success on the Israeli MOH Powered Mobility Proficiency Test.Results: Significant variables for predicting success were identified: manual wheelchair propulsion, go-stop voluntarily upon request, and using a joystick. The model was able to correctly identify 80% of the children.Interpretation: Children and young adults with the ability to go-stop upon request, propel a manual wheelchair short distances, and use a joystick to activate the powered wheelchair had a higher chance of becoming proficient. In countries where wheelchair proficiency is a requirement for powered wheelchair procurement, these findings may support policy changes, as they did in Israel.What This Paper Adds: Using powered wheelchairs offers children earlier and more natural practice to determine driving proficiency. Manual wheelchair propulsion, go-stop voluntarily upon request, and using a joystick were predictors of powered mobility proficiency. More than 80% of children use a joystick with their hand to activate a powered wheelchair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why and how does national identity reopen for contestation? Existing theories argue that institutional design, social ties or elite manipulation alter the saliency and nature of national identity. These theories view the ethno‐nation as homogenous and shaped vis‐à‐vis other groups. However, I argue that we should examine the re‐emergence of nationalism as an intra‐national struggle between groups with different saliency and understandings of national identity: new issues can raise the importance of national identity for some members of the group but not others. Moreover, members develop diverging understandings of fundamentals of national identity such as citizenship, borders and the role of religion. To support the theory, the paper utilises original not yet studied archival materials to show that struggle over Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories led to contestation of the saliency and meaning of Jewish Israeli national identity. Specifically, I analyse letters individuals sent to leading government officials in the early days of the settlements and show that settlement supporters tied the issue to Zionist ethos, injecting new content into Zionist identity. Meanwhile, national identity did not rise in importance or alter in meaning for settlement opposition. The method reveals individual understandings of national identity and points at broader societal divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A failure to maintain improvement achieved during acute treatment, followed by a "revolving door syndrome," is a common phenomenon in eating disorders (EDs). As a result, many patients develop a chronic course that is difficult to treat. To target these difficulties, we established a novel rehabilitation treatment model in Israel for patients with severe and enduring EDs, based on the "recovery theory" in mental health treatment. This paper describes the process of conceiving this model and specifies the components of this rehabilitation house, "Zeida Laderech" (Provisions for the Journey), that aims to provide a home‐like environment, while assisting in developing a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Finally, the model is discussed in light of other residential programs established in the world. With the hope to improve the overall prognosis of individuals with EDs, it is suggested that the similar programs and ongoing innovation will continue to emerge internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper makes use of the developmental model of movement between mental positions that was formulated by psychoanalyst Melanie Klein, aimed at understanding the dialogue that takes place between the media and social workers in the field of child welfare, centring around incidents of murder within the family. The basic concept in the paper is that when working with children who are victims of abuse and with their parents, and when reporting on them as well, the feeling of personal control is severely undermined, being associated with the loss of the hallowed social value known as ‘unconditional love of a parent for his child’. The paper illustrates these theoretical ideas by describing two cases that took place in Israel and recommendations are made regarding ways of promoting the dialogue between the professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Global Northern, non‐Jewish, female, highly skilled partners and spouses of Israeli Jewish citizens in Israel as a case study, and depicting their interactions with bureaucracy, integration into the labour market, gendered aspects of integration and clashes between self‐perception and ascription this paper teases out that, despite its specificity, the case of Israel allows forming conclusions about the precariousness of a class of presumed privileged migrants. The central finding is that Global Northerners experience a status deprivation, which includes deskilling and social marginalization. This nexus was experienced as limiting personal agency, which allows for questioning their presumed status of privileged migrants; it concurrently underscores the importance of the analytically difficult and diffuse nexus of personality and agency. The ethnographic data demonstrates that individuals coped with the challenges differently, suggesting that specific personalities and intra‐ and interpersonal resourcefulness underpin individual resilience thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I this paper, we survey and focus on developments in the chemistry curriculum in Israel over the past 70 years, as influenced by changes and reforms in the curricula around the world and specifically in the United States, by political, cultural and socio‐economic factors, scientific and technological innovations, and theories and studies in learning and teaching. The mentioned studies refer also to the influence of the learners, the teachers, the content, the pedagogy of teaching and learning both in and out of school, and the assessment of students' achievement on the curriculum changes. Three periods of changes are discussed in the chemistry curriculum in Israel, from the 1960s to the beginning of the 21st century, as influenced by the above factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over a period of more than 60 years, the chemistry laboratory has been extensively and comprehensively researched and hundreds of research papers, reviews, and doctoral dissertations have been published, investigating the laboratory as a unique learning environment. However, there were challenges and pedagogical questions regarding its educational effectiveness and benefits for teaching and learning chemistry. At the beginning of the 21st century there was a call to rethink (and research) the goals for learning chemistry in the laboratory. This is especially applicable in an era in which we are trying to enhance the goal of teaching "chemistry for all students" and/or for the benefit of what is fondly called "future citizens". Working for more than 15 years with colleagues and students, we researched the potential of establishing an inquiry‐type chemistry laboratory for developing high‐order learning skills, namely, skills for the future or skills for life, including metacognitive and argumentative skills, and the ability of students to ask relevant questions resulting from an inquiry‐type chemistry laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Significant barriers can block the provision of palliative care at the end of life in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, the relationship between perceptions of ICU quality palliative care and barriers to palliative care at the end of life is not well documented. Aims and objectives: To describe ICU nurses' perceptions of quality palliative end‐of‐life care, barrier intensity and frequency to palliative care and their association with one another. Design This was a descriptive, correlational, cross‐sectional design. Methods: A convenience sample of 126 ICU nurses from two hospitals in Israel was recruited for the study. Participants completed three pencil‐and‐paper questionnaires (a personal characteristics questionnaire, the Quality of Palliative Care in the ICU and a revised Survey of Oncology Nurses' Perceptions of End‐of‐Life Care). Respondents were recruited during staff meetings or while on duty in the ICU. Ethical approval was obtained for the study from participating hospitals. Results: The item mean score of the quality of palliative end‐of‐life care was 7·5/10 (SD = 1·23). The item mean barrier intensity and frequency scores were 3·05/5 (SD = 0·76) and 3·30/5 (SD = 0·61), respectively. A correlation of r = 0·46, p < 0·001 was found between barrier frequency and intensity and r = −0·19, p = 0·04 between barrier frequency and quality palliative end‐of‐life care. Conclusions: ICU nurses perceived the quality of palliative care at the end of life as moderate despite reports of moderate barrier levels. The frequency of barriers was weakly associated with quality palliative end‐of‐life care. However, barrier intensity did not correlate with quality palliative end‐of‐life care at a statistically significant level. Further research that investigates other factors associated with quality ICU palliative care is recommended. Relevance to clinical practice: Barriers to palliative care are still common in the ICU. Increased training and education are recommended to decrease barriers and improve the quality of ICU palliative care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify several of the mismatches at play when social workers encounter families belonging to diverse groups and assess risk, well‐being and protection for children. Two minority groups in Israel were studied: the Ultra‐Orthodox Jewish community and Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. A context‐informed approach was adopted to explore the subjective perceptions and constructions of "risk," "well‐being," and "protection" among parents of the two communities (N = 60) and the social workers who work with them (N = 50). The social workers included some who belong to the minority groups they serve and others who are from the majority group. The analysis of the interviews yielded two main themes: (a) an understanding of the discrepancies in parents' and professionals' perceptions and constructions of "risk" and "protection" for children as the product of differences in the values, norms and contexts of these two groups; and (b) the implications of these discrepancies for the relationship between professionals/social service agencies and parents who are potential service users. Our findings call upon professionals to re‐visit "universals" in the "risk" discourse while taking into account the realms of culture, ethnicity, religiosity, spirituality and community life when assessing risk and treating children and families of minority communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper examines the health literacy of seniors and the strategies they use to deal with health uncertainty in the context of changes in the health system in Israel that have created a need to examine health literacy in this sector of the population who use the health system the most. The oldest were born and grew up in an era when a physician's knowledge was unchallenged; now, they find it difficult to cope with the expectation of patients taking a role in decision making. Methods: In‐depth interviews were carried out with 17 seniors between the ages of 70–87 that focused on their perception of their health and their health literacy. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Seniors used different information sources when looking for medical information. Participants reported three coping mechanisms that help them deal with the uncertainty: disregarding the problem, relying on the physician and searching for information. Conclusions: The study found different levels of health literacy among participants but, overall, participants who lead an active and optimistic lifestyle tend to take more responsibility for their health and have higher health information literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the concept of 'land‐centred' nationalism and suggests that it is important for distinguishing among different types of nationalism and for better understanding the role of land and place in this ideology. In order to demonstrate what land‐centred nationalism actually means, the article examines Zionism as a case study, arguing that some of the leading, early intellectual schools of this national movement (cultural, socialist, and religious Zionism) tended to underscore the role of the Land of Israel in collective identity rather than the role of the political community. Despite many differences in their general outlook, these schools all celebrated the land's spiritual role while neglecting or even opposing the idea of a Jewish state. This devaluation of the bond among citizens in favour of the bond of a people with their ancient land contributed to Zionism's contemporary difficulties and manifests the dangers of land‐centred nationalism more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explain policy stalemates that persist despite recognition of their risks and damages, as well as the factors and processes that enable a breakthrough and lead to policy change. The paper seeks to fill a gap in the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) theory by supplementing it with Narrative Analysis (NA). We claim that NA provides a link missing in the ACF that is required for the transformation of 'necessary' conditions-like external and internal shocks to the system-into 'sufficient' conditions for policy persistence or change. We use the ACF to delineate coalition members and their belief systems and policy positions, as well as external, internal, and structural shocks to the system. We rely on NA to analyze the narratives employed in the public arena, which turn conditions necessary both for hurting stalemates and for policy change into sufficient conditions. We illustrate the benefits of combining the two approaches through a study of Israel's water policy during four decades (1970s-2000s) based on government records and on information from interviews with key players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship emphasizes differences among ethnic groups' internal migration patterns. Yet, with few exceptions, research has focused on the Anglo-American world, neglecting experiences from other regions. This paper is part of a larger research project that studies mobility among the Arab minority in Israel and its driving forces. In this paper we examine patterns of internal migration by analysing the propensity to migrate as well as migrants' individual and social characteristics. First, we survey the theoretical backdrop that is suggested by recent geographic literature on internal migration among ethnic and racial minorities, including native groups. Second, we contextualize the group studied, providing necessary background information on the political, socio-economic and demographic conditions of Arabs in Israel. We briefly discuss attributes that are - or have been - potential hindering factors to Arab mobility in the Jewish state. Finally, we analyse 1995 national census data at the micro scale and provide a basis for future explanations of the phenomenon. We conclude by outlying some future directions in the study of internal migration of minorities in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines some of the emerging critical civil society debates in relation to the one-state solution being the most appropriate geo-political arrangement for the articulation of freedom, justice and equality in Palestine-Israel. This is done with reference to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions' 2012 statement in support of a bi-national state and the ensuing critiques it attracted from Palestinian supporters of the one-state position. Drawing on these debates which have largely revolved around Jewish Israeli rights to political self-determination in Palestine-Israel, this paper proposes that alternative versions of self-determination as cultural rights for the established Hebrew-speaking national community represent a more inclusive form of self-determination in the eventuality of decolonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 26 December 2003 an Israeli activist was shot by the Israeli Army while he was participating in a demonstration organized by Anarchists Against the Wall (AAtW) in the West Bank. This was the first time Israeli Soldiers have deliberately shot live bullets at a Jewish-Israeli activist. This paper is an attempt to understand the set of conditions, the enveloping frameworks, and the new discourses that have made this event, and similar shootings that soon followed, possible. Situating the actions of AAtW within a much wider context of securitization-of identities, movements, and bodies-we examine strategies of resistance which are deployed in highly securitized public spaces. We claim that an unexpected matrix of identity in which abnormality is configured as security threat render the bodies of activists especially precarious. The paper thus provides an account of the new rationales of security technologies and tactics which increasingly govern public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we contribute to the study of immigrants’ integration into the host society by focusing on two subjective indicators of integration: life satisfaction and sense of belonging. The analysis is performed on post‐1990 immigrants in Israel with data obtained from the ‘Immigrant Survey’ conducted by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. The findings show that while life satisfaction is affected by all forms of incorporation (structural, acculturation, identificational), immigrants’ sense of belonging to Israeli society seems mainly related to processes of identity re‐definition in the host society, and mostly determined by strength of Jewish identity, ideological motives for going to Israel, and the ways by which immigrants perceive they are defined by Israelis (as a member of the majority group or as a member of an ethnic group). The results also reveal that when utilizing SEM procedure for estimating simultaneous effects of both subjective measures of assimilation, sense of belonging to the new society strongly affects immigrants’ life satisfaction but not the other way around. We discuss the findings and their meaning in light of theory and within the context of Israeli society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are few dozen areas in dispute around the world, where the borders have not been agreed by the involved parties or by the international community. The dispute over the Israeli border is particularly complex as it not only presents disagreement between the opposing sides in play but also in the international arena and within the Israeli political system and society. This paper examines one way in which the State of Israel is trying to define its borders through postage stamps. The argument raised is that Israel issues stamps that deal with disputed territorial areas in accordance with the ideology of the ruling party of a certain period, as well as the respective social consensus surrounding a particular area. Our findings support this argument and find three meta-messages incorporated into the stamps, including the historical connection between the State of Israel and the land of Israel, unified Jerusalem, and the Christian connection to Jerusalem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to further discourse concerning the implications of critical social work for direct practice with families and children. It presents and discusses a hypothetical example of how a social worker in a social care agency in Israel can incorporate critical social work notions into an official social work report. The paper begins by presenting key concepts in critical social work, their manifestations in practice and their implications for official social work reports. It then presents a mock report informed by critical social work ideas and discusses its structure and contents. The mock report provides an example of how abstract notions central to critical social work can be actualized. The paper thus offers practitioners the opportunity for a richer discourse on the contribution of critical social work to direct practice with families and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the value and role of critical notions of space in the current impasse in Palestine-Israel through a case study on two films and their creative use of space. The main aim of the paper is to illustrate that it is useful for geographers to use analyses of performance in order to theorise space in more hopeful ways, particularly in areas of conflict, by stressing the importance of space as open-ended and performative. Through a discussion of two films, one by Elia Suleiman and the other by Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan, the paper argues that space, if imagined as dynamic, in-between and potentially connecting Palestinians and Israelis, can be transformative and have a positive role to play in interrogating us/them relationships, power inequalities and Othering in the region. The paper highlights the value of using third space and performance to help create a spatial politics of affect, which may in turn lead to changing perceptions of the Other in conflict regions. Therefore, the paper makes a contribution, not only to the geographical literature on how space is appropriated and constructed in Palestine-Israel, but also to geographical work on hope, film and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their impressive patterns of economic mobility and generally successful adaptation into Western host societies, Israeli emigrants frequently view their stay abroad through the perspective of Zionism. As such, they express ambivalence about their presence on foreign soil. They seldom describe themselves as host country nationals, commonly socialize with other Israelis, frequently describe their intentions to return home, and often do so. However, recent events may challenge this outlook. During the 1990s, Israel's significant demographic and economic growth, relatively peaceful relations with neighbouring countries and increasingly globalized economy had the effect of lessening the stigma on going abroad. Then, since the fall of 2000, Israel has been rocked by the Al Aksa Intifada, as well as a major recession. These events have made life more difficult for Israelis. Accordingly, conditions of the last several years can be seen as altering Israelis' motives for emigration and simultaneously shifting the probability of return among those already overseas. While a topic of interest in its own right, the experience of Israeli emigrants since late 2000 also offers a natural experiment for evaluating how theories about migrant transnationalism consider the consequences of specific events upon relations with citizens abroad. This paper relies on in-depth interviews and other data sources to explore Israeli emigrants' views about remaining in host societies versus returning to Israel since late 2000. In so doing, it considers how emigrants evaluate potential benefits, costs and feelings of identification associated with residence overseas versus Israel. The paper also seeks more general insights into how relations between migrants and the country of origin are altered when events affect political and economic conditions in the country of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Oral-diadochokinesis (oral-DDK) tasks are extensively used in the evaluation of motor speech abilities. Currently, validated normative data for older adults (aged 65 years and older) are missing in Hebrew. The effect of task stimuli (non-word versus real-word repetition) is also non-clear in the population of older adult Hebrew speakers. Aims (1) To establish a norm for oral-DDK rate for older adult (aged 65 years and older) Hebrew speakers, and to investigate the possible effect of age and gender on performance rate; and (2) to examine the effects of stimuli (non-word versus real word) on oral-DDK rates. Methods & Procedures In experiment 1, 88 healthy older Hebrew speakers (60-95 years, 48 females and 40 males) were audio-recorded while performing an oral-DDK task (repetition of /pataka/), and repetition rates (syllables/s) were coded. In experiment 2, the effect of real-word repetition was evaluated. Sixty-eight older Hebrew speakers (aged 66-95 years, 43 females and 25 males) were asked to repeat ' pataka' (non-word) and ' bodeket' (Hebrew real word). Outcomes & Results Experiment 1: Oral-DDK performance for older adult Hebrew speakers was 5.07 syllables/s (SD = 1.16 syllables/s), across age groups and gender. Comparison of this data with Hebrew norms for younger adults (and equivalent data in English) shows the following gradient of oral-DDK rates: ages 15-45 > 65-74 > 75-86 years. Gender was not a significant factor in our data. Experiment 2: Repetition of real words was faster than that of non-words, by 13.5%. Conclusions & Implications The paper provides normative values for oral-DDK rates for older Hebrew speakers. The data show the large impact of ageing on oro-motor functions. The analysis further indicates that speech and language pathologists should consider separate norms for clients of 65-74 years and those of 75-86 years. Hebrew rates were found to be different from English norms for the oldest group, shedding light on the impact of language on these norms. Finally, the data support using a dual-protocol (real- and non-word repetition) with older adults to improve differential diagnosis of normal and pathological ageing in this task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been an increase in scholarly writing on the theory and practice of critical social work with people living in poverty. Yet there is a lack of research on the experiences and perspectives of service users regarding this kind of practice. This paper presents a qualitative study that explored the practice of a special poverty-aware social work programme in Israel, through the experiences of women who took part in it. Using an interpretative interactionist approach, in-depth interviews with nine women were held three times over a 2-year period. Findings reveal a high degree of satisfaction with the programme on the part of the women. The satisfaction was derived from four main experiences: the experience of visibility, the experience of the active partnership in the fight against poverty, the experience of close, hierarchy-challenging relationships, and the experience of responsiveness to material and emotional needs. The findings are discussed in terms of three principles of practice: intervention in a real-life context, relationship-based intervention and the focus on both the material and emotional needs and their fulfilment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the family quality of life (FQOL) of families with a child with disability in Jewish and Arab communities in Israel. Social, political, and cultural realities have an effect on all members of society. For families with a child with disability there are additional challenges. Being a minority family with a child with a disability adds to the challenges. One hundred fifty-eight Jewish and 105 Arab Israeli caregivers of children with disabilities responded to the Family Quality of Life Survey (FQOLS-2006), which operationalizes FQOL as a construct of six measurement dimensions in nine core family life domains. Overall, Jewish families in Israel reported higher FQOL than Arab families. Although eight of the nine domains were rated highly for Importance, the main outcome measures Attainment and Satisfaction were rated lower for almost all domains. Some domains contributed to overall differences more than others. The patterns also differed for the Jewish and Arab families. It is important for policy and practice to consider the social/political status of families and to consider the possible impact this has on the family of a child with a disability. Further research is needed to develop application models for addressing the needs of minority populations in designing programs into the general service delivery system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health nurses (PHNs) working in Well Baby Clinic in Israel's Haifa district were voicing great distress to inspectors—the impossibility of meeting their workload, feeling overwhelmed, poor physical, and technological conditions. They were feeling tired and frustrated and burn‐out was rising. The district's nursing management took the decision, together with Tel Aviv University's nursing research unit, to conduct a quality improvement project based on issues that arose from meetings with focus groups on the nurses’ difficulties. This paper is a case study of a quality improvement project targeting nurses daily working life. One of its chief contributions is as a study of meeting PHNs’ frustration by integrating focus groups and round‐table brainstorming (involving nurses, clinic managers and nursing inspectors) in order to identify targets for practical intervention. This strategy has been very successful. It has provided the district's nursing management a battery of forcefully argued and realistically grounded proposals for making the work of Well Baby clinics more relevant to their communities and giving nurses (a) the conditions to meet their assignments and (b) greater professional self‐respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses discussions of the Israeli Parliament's Committee on the Rights of the Child about Palestinian children who make their way from the occupied Palestinian territories to traffic junctions in Israel, where they earn money in various ways. Using theories by Derrida and Latour, I claim that the children compel the state to rhetorically display humanitarian care, while overlooking its commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child so to avoid aiding them in practice. Placing these children in a bureaucratic lacuna, Israel denies its duty to offer hospitality to all children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the multiple, entangled geographies of Palestine-Israel. It traces a range ways in which broadly geopolitical ideas have been brought to bear on the Middle East over the past several decades and the implications of this work for our understanding of this part of the world. Specifically, the paper engages with the imaginative geographies through which Palestine-Israel has been constructed, the geopolitical and biopolitical machinations of Israeli occupation, as well as narratives and practices of identity. The argument is that territory, sovereignty and security are bound up with bodies, mobility and identity, and that geo- and biopolitics need to be thought together in order to access the operations of power at multiple scales that compose and exceed the state, and in order to understand the materiality of everyday life within and beyond the context of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the latter half of the 20th century, Western medicine moved death from the home to the hospital. As a result, the process of dying seems to have lost its spiritual dimension, and become a matter of prolonging material life by means of medical technology. The novel quandaries that arose led in turn to medico-legal regulation. This paper describes the recent regulation of dying in Israel under its Dying Patient Law, 2005. The Law recognizes advance directives in principle, but limits their effect and form through complex medico-legal artifices. It reflects a culture that places high value on both scientific medicine and the sanctity of life as such, and illustrates a medical culture that pitches battle against death. At the same time, the Law constructs the will of the individual in a medico-legal language that is alien to the lay person. The paper suggests an alternative approach to advance care planning that is patient-centred and addresses the psycho-social needs of the individual in terms of her relational autonomy. From this perspective, advance care planning becomes an opportunity to extract the patient from the medical context and allow her to speak about her approaching death with close ones in her own terms of reference. To this end, there is a need for facilitation of an intimate encounter where patients can speak about their concerns with their loved ones. The paper also presents a methodological approach of attentive listening, which can be applied across diverse cultures and circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the political nature of reconstruction in Lebanon in the wake of the 33-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006. It illustrates the extent to which Arab and Gulf States assumed a major role in the reconstruction effort that followed the fighting. A significant competitive dynamic attached itself to the reconstruction of Lebanon, with external actors attempting to protect and defend their favoured constituencies via reconstruction activities. The reconstruction endeavour reflected Lebanon's internal political divisions as well as wider regional competition. Using the metaphors of ‘software’ and ‘hardware’, the study examines how in general many Western states and Western-backed international institutions favoured governance programming (software) while many Arab and Gulf State donors preferred physical reconstruction projects (hardware), often with an emphasis on large-scale, high-visibility infrastructure projects. The paper argues that the latter were able to connect more effectively with the political culture of Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this paper is twofold: to conceptualize tensions related to the academization of nursing, and to analyse a case study, describing how such tensions were dealt with in the process of establishing a new nursing department. Background: This paper represents the first stage of a case study of the transformation of a hospital-based nursing school into an academic programme, carried out as a joint venture between a local hospital school and a college in northern Israel. Methods: This paper is based on action research. The participants were 19 members of the new academic faculty and 3 members of an action research center. Findings: The three inter-related tensions surfaced in the research process are: (1) the status of nursing and nurses, (2) the role of research and critical thinking in nursing education and practice, and (3) the characteristics of students, who should enrol in and graduate from nursing programmes, or in other words, the character of the 'ideal nurse'. Conclusions: An action research process enables new teams to put tensions on the table so they can be openly addressed through ongoing reflection, inquiry, learning, evaluation and redesign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates mobile phone use as a medium of inter-generational communication. Research on teenage mobile phone use has tended to focus on its peer group functionality. In this paper, the mobile phone is examined as a transitional object in parent-teen interrelationships. Specifically, drawing on ethnographic work conducted in Israel among teenagers between 2000 and 2006, the paper focuses on mobile telephones as physical objects that can connect people and mediate relationships. It is shown that, for parents and their teenage children, the mobile phone is important more for the possibility of communication and less for the text or voice conversation it actually carries. Analysis focuses also on the role of the mobile phone in enabling inter-generational distance and intimacy, attending to the complicated ways in which the mobile phone is employed by parents and their teenage children. It is argued that the analysis of mobile phone practices needs to take directly into account the specific cultural contexts of production and consumption, as culture, technology and family mutually shape one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from a comparative study of Israeli and German genetic counsellors' perceptions of the moral standing of the fetus. Data collected through in-depth interviews with counsellors in both countries (N=32) are presented, and their moral practices are analysed. The paper's findings suggest that while German counsellors perceive the fetus as an autonomous being and debate the particular biological stages through which this autonomy is acquired; Israeli counsellors do not consider the moral status of the fetus independently of its relations with its family hence, deploying a 'relational ethics'. It is suggested that these differences are influenced by historical, political, legal, and religious traditions in Germany and Israel regarding abortions and the fetus. It is concluded that the deployment of a 'biological ethics' by German counsellors reproduces the model of fetal developmental stages (in itself a construction), and hence goes hand in hand with perceptions of the fetus as a 'life', and thus as the bearer of autonomous rights which are understood to contradict those of its mother. On the other hand, the rejection of 'biological ethics' by Israeli counsellors enables a perception of fetuses that is first and foremost defined by their relationships with others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a robust method for screening one-well hydraulic barrier design alternatives that can be easily computed without a numerical simulation model. The paper outlines the general method and shows its implementation with hydraulic barriers using a single pumping well. For such barriers, the method is easily computable with spreadsheets and/or charts depicted within the paper and posted online. The method applies the potential flow theory, which leads to using a curvilinear coordinate system for all types of calculations. For contaminant transport calculations, the method applies the boundary layer theory. For calculations of aquifer remediation, the method refers to bulk characteristics of the domain. As an example, the method has been applied to calculate the possible containment of a wide part of the coastal plain aquifer in Israel, which is contaminated by entrapped kerosene (a light nonaqueous phase liquid). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elaborates on the concept of ‘knowledge economy’ as a prelude to demonstrating its incidence at regional and sub-regional levels in the UK, EU and Israel. The paper shows consistencies in the incidence of knowledge economies across the countries and georegion. This is a good test of the basic methodology, which is simple, and suggests its underlying theory is robust for distinctive spaces and times. It should thus contribute to standard methodology in academic and policy environments. The future economy will be characterised by more knowledge-intensive activities, and as shown in the paper, will be a highly disequilibriated one in spatial terms. Consequently the need for counter-measures is growing in order to continuously follow up and to take the needed actions in lagging regions. This is an acute challenge for future policy, namely to correct market failure in the knowledge economy for peripheral and otherwise deprived areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Israeli–Hezbollah conflict in the summer of 2006, although brief, had a lasting impact on the region and prompted an intense humanitarian response. The conflict raised challenging questions for the United Nations (UN) about how to assist a middle-income yet extremely vulnerable population in a context where global and local relations are highly politicised. This paper focuses on two key questions that emerged from the humanitarian response. First, how can humanitarian agencies, and particularly the UN, improve the protection of civilians, and was what they did in Lebanon enough? Second, how can humanitarian agencies create partnerships with local actors and still remain true to core humanitarian principles when local actors are fiercely divided along confessional lines and influenced by external actors, and when some, such as Hezbollah, are parties to the conflict? This paper argues that despite the importance of protection and partnerships to the humanitarian response, their role in the UN emergency response still falls short. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a position paper on Israel's benefits system. It was produced in the framework of a participatory action research with the collaboration of welfare services users and social welfare policy practitioners, academics, social practitioners, and social activists. Some 78 persons living in poverty, from various population groups, were asked, in group settings, to describe their experiences with the benefit system and services, their coping strategies, their perceptions and attitudes towards these services, and their recommendations for ways to improve them. The position paper which emerged from this process served as the basis for discussions between service users, social welfare policy practitioners, researchers, social activists and social practitioners at an academic conference. Issues such as benefits cuts, eligibility, and definitions of poverty are discussed and recommendations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main concern of this paper is to classify the different methods of measurement of sense of place (which is a very vague concept). The existence and intensity of sense of place is also related to social and cultural variables, such as ethnic and religious background. This paper reviews the different methods of measuring sense of place and classifies them according to different criteria. The study applies a bipolar (positive and negative level of attachment), unidimensional scale which is composed of one component of scaling, using a ‘direct’ technique. The results point to similarities and differences between Israeli-born and immigrant groups. Most of the respondents in both groups had similar patterns of positive feelings towards the place where they live. The differences were smaller than the similarities. The sense of place scale applied in this study has the advantage of being a simple tool that is understandable to all types of respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most immigration studies focus on the negative consequences of immigration for families and for parenting. Immigration is also viewed as a factor that undermines fathers’ capacity to implement their fathering roles. The impact of immigration on fathers has received very little attention. This paper is based on 54 interviews with immigrant fathers to Canada and Israel. Based on qualitative data, the paper investigates immigrant fathers’ perceptions of fatherhood in the midst of cultural change. This paper challenges the widely held notion that immigration itself is a risk factor for fatherhood. It focuses rather on the systemic barriers and obstacles facing immigrant fathers in their new country and the positive opportunities this change presents. Implications for intervention and policies concerning immigrant families are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the shaping of health policy in terms of power relations and group interests, as enacted in Israel's IVF policy. A comparison with the principles of IVF provision in other countries (UK, Canada, USA) shows Israel's policy to be substantially more‘liberal’. In order to explain this exception, the policy is initially located within the context of the state's pro-natalist reproductive policy, women's impaired equality and a complex system of healthcare provision. A Parliament Committee discussion on the subject is then analysed in greater detail, revealing three narratives that are used to account for the state's IVF policy: a nationalised narrative of reproductive medicine as a source of international acclaim, a personalised narrative of compassion for anguished women, and a medicalised narrative of experts as being best capable of regulating IVF. All three narratives have merged within the local IVF discourse, enabling the creation and maintenance of consensus among the participating politicians, physicians, consumers and women activists. Of significance is the muted argument regarding the state's interest in enlarging its Jewish population, which dominated other discussions on this topic. I argue that it is the demographic interest which crucially underlies the state's willingness to sustain its costly IVF policy, and that it is this interest which has enabled the various participants– who all shared an interest in unlimited IVF provision– to present a unanimous agreement. State representatives then used this consensus as a firm civil ground for the development and maintenance of Israel's exceptional IVF policy. The paper concludes with several implications regarding women's health and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the profile of the Israel Society for the Prevention of Alcoholism (ISPA), which is a nation-wide, public, non-profit association. It portrays various aspects of ISPA treatment and rehabilitation facilities-the residential treatment center, the rehabilitative hostel and the 'warm home' for homeless alcoholics. It depicts ISPA prevention activities, prevention materials and its usage of the media, and deals with ISPA involvement in policy issues. The paper also addresses the research reality of ISPA and its scientific journal, and refers to the society's structure and its future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lobbying in Israel was unregulated for 60 years. Scholars have decried the fact that high value is attached to the written decree, but implementation does not necessarily follow: quite a few laws have remained at symbolic level in Israel. There were two unsuccessful bills submitted to legislate lobbying regulation: first by Knesset Member (MK) Merom in 1993 and the second one by MK Naot in 2001. The bill submitted by MKs Yechimovich and Sa'ar in 2007 resulted in passing the Israeli lobbying regulations in 2008, but the Lobbyist Law displayed unexpected characteristics, and there was a 500% growth in lobbyist numbers. In 2012, a scandal shook the Israeli lobbying world as a crew from the Israeli Channel 2's investigative show Uvda ('Fact') infiltrated the training program of the Gilad Government Relations & Lobbying firm. Following the Channel 2 exposé, the Speaker of the Knesset MK Rivlin instructed Knesset employees to immediately forbid the entrance of all lobbyists to areas heavily used by MKs. These steps, taken almost 4 years after that the Knesset had passed a weak Lobbyist Law, scoring 28 points according to the Center of Public Integrity score, did not create more transparency but only set certain restrictions on the lobbyists' movements in the Knesset building. In 2013, MK Koll submitted a bill to further regulate the lobbying followed by another bill by MKs Yechimovich and Tsur in 2014. However, these bills were thrashed as the Knesset was dispersed in December 2014. This paper would analyze the bills from 1993, 2001, 2007, 2013, and 2014 by measuring their strength according to the Center of Public Integrity Index in order to explore the path that resulted in passing the Lobbyist Law in 2008 and in the following developments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Papua New Guinean imaginings of Israel as a potential development partner draw on Christian renderings of the Bible, but they also reflect an understanding of Israel as a modern, technologically advanced nation. As middle-class Papua New Guineans reflect on the failures of national development since gaining independence from Australia, they express ambivalence about the appropriateness of Western models of development for the Papua New Guinean context. However, the influx of Asian investment is also seen as lacking, or even threatening; therefore, Asian models of development alsofail to offer an appealing hope for the future. In this paper, I argue that these racialised understandings of modernity represent a 'post-colonial racial triangle', a discursive field within which the moral implications of development are understood and debated. Within this triangle, Melanesians are thought to have 'culture' and (Christian) 'morality' but lack 'development'. Australians or 'whitemen' are thought to have 'development' and 'morality' but to lack 'culture'. 'Asians' are thought to have 'development' and 'culture' but to lack (Christian) morality. Taking this moral framing of race into account, Israel emerges as a possible aid donor with the credentials to reconcile these three positions as it is seen to be the possessor of 'development', 'culture', and 'morality'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper discusses one aspect of corporate social responsibility-employee community volunteering-as implemented at an Israeli banking corporation. The literature on corporate social responsibility as a feature of global capitalism has largely ignored the history of corporate philanthropy and its relation to the current model of social responsibility. Moreover, to date, no studies have addressed the relationship between models of corporate social responsibility, on the one hand, and management approaches, on the other. In this historical-ethnographic study, we examine a case in which, we argue, normative management models and advanced marketing approaches combined to shape new conceptions and practices of employee volunteering. We examine how the process evolved over the course of three marketing campaigns initiated by the bank's management between the early 1960s and the early 1980s. In the early 1960s, the models in question helped refashion the employees' identity as service providers 'empathic' toward clients. By the late 1970s, their identity was transformed once again, this time to incorporate a 'humane' orientation toward the 'community'. In the process-the results of which are still felt today-the employees became the carriers and disseminators of an organizational culture that emphasized values of philanthropy and social commitment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proceeding from the assumption (discussed in an earlier paper) that regional cooperation can have important developmental functions as regards mobilization of own resources, social integration, redistribution, and societal participation, the paper sets out to examine community characteristics which influence differential interest and involvement in such cooperation. Three major dimensions are explored in this connection: general regional propensity, reflecting spatial constraints (in terms of proximity and ecological interdependence) and socio-cultural predispositions (in terms of the centrality of autonomy as a value, and of openness as against rigidity in interacting with out groups); actual regional utility as measured against the potential developmental functions of the region, reflecting the extent to which a community possesses a proper "cooperative mass" (in terms of size and wealth in various spheres), and whether functional alternatives to regional cooperation are available to it; and acceptability, as defined by compatibility with potential partners. The theoretical profiles of regional commitment, which crystallize from these dimensions, are then observed. And finally, the conceptual scheme is applied to the empirical data of the Israeli study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries are in the process of moving nursing education from 2-year or 3-year diploma programmes to institutions of higher education. This paper reports on a national project in Israel in which diploma school faculties were retooled for baccalaureate teaching. Among many issues associated with this shift are two addressed by this paper: what are the essential differences between diploma and baccalaureate education and how can faculty be developed so that the change is substantive and not the same type of education with a different label? The authors propose: (a) more radical changes must occur in the preparation of faculty for there to be substantive differences in the graduates; (b) the objectives curriculum model widely exported from the USA promotes training for technical levels of nursing and inhibits true education for professional practice; (c) there are six types of learning, not one, and the difference between technical and professional nursing education lies in the types of learning emphasized by faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the factors influencing the disposition of cases in juvenile courts. The factors considered are the prior record of the offender, the nature of the offense, the recommendation of the probation officer, and the age of the offender. These four factors are essential components of the juvenile justice system and as such are perceived to be crucial for the understanding of the court's decision. A multivariate analysis of the data is undertaken using the method of log-linear analysis for hierarchical models. In contrast to other studies that have utilized the same method but with fewer variables, the model arrived at m the paper seems to be more accurate and suggests that while the offense and the prior criminal record are quite important factors, their influence on the disposition of cases is greatly bound by the age of the offender and the recommendation of the probation officer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the complex attitudes of Israeli society and mental health professionals toward the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust. While the nascent state of Israel provided refuge for the Holocaust survivors and offered them a new identity and opportunity to rebuild their lives, it also demanded that they abnegate their former identities, their Holocaust experiences above all, and repress all the emotional problems that the Holocaust created. In the nearly 5 decades since the first survivors arrived on Israel's shores with their accounts of barely imaginable horror, society's attitudes toward the survivors have traced a tortured course, throughout which the views of the helping professions have mirrored, rather than led, those of the general public. This paper describes the process of change in attitudes and attempts to explain this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Israel as a case study, the paper considers the social mechanisms by means of which the medical profession seeks to maintain its boundaries and control in a social context characterised by the recent arrival of twelve thousand immigrant physicians from the former Soviet Union. This situation poses a threat to the veteran medical profession which is described as combining elitist and proletarian elements in an uneasy balance. In the past the principal mode of resolution with regard to this duality has taken the form of demonstrative assertions of the elitist component. With the large influx of immigrant doctors, three mechanisms geared to maintain control have been utilised: (i) the formal licensing examination for general practice; (2) full control of employment options in the health care system and (3) a widespread negative stereotype regarding the level of immigrant physicians' professional skills. The paper discusses these mechanisms and their implications for the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the first stage of a prospective study created to evaluate a public health problem - hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection - and to design a strategy of prevention suitable for the target population, Ethiopian Jews in Israel. In the first stage of the study serological tests were conducted on 165 Ethiopian Jews, all of whom were residing in one location. This stage was designed to estimate the prevalence of HBV infection and to identify the high risk groups. The paper explores the response of Ethiopian Jews to the procedures which the research involved as well as to the researchers. It thus presents a methodological case history, demonstrating the way in which the perceptions of the subjects can affect the outcome of a research programme. It also makes evident the advantages of adding qualitative data to an epidemiological study, if these responses are to be understood. The response of the target population was connected with the position of these newcomers in the new land. It was also influenced by perceptions of blood and blood drawing, which had been changing since their arrival in Israel. The relationships of Ethiopian Jews with the religious establishment in Israel were found to be linked to perceptions of blood and blood drawing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Hebrew is a fully gendered language: not every noun and adjective, but also every voice and case, is gendered. There is no accepted gender-neutral term ('it'), although 'man' and the male third-person singular is generally taken to include women, despite the protests of feminists. Assigning a particular sex/gender to an inanimate object is arbitrary. The issue of sex and gender in language will be addressed in this paper as a dichotomy not of biology but of performance. It will be suggested that sex is akin to hardware, while gender is like software. Specifically, this paper will analyze the efforts of a successful Israeli singer, Danna International, a male-to-female transsexual, to provide an international syllable-sampling strategy for disco songs that subvert conventions of sex, spelling and cliches. To understand Danna International's appeal and art, it is helpful to employ Michael Agar's idea of 'languaculture': in this case, the languages (Hebrew and Arabic) and cultures (secular, sacrosanct and sectarian) of Israel and the Middle East, as well as Israel's gay male subculture (the most overt in the region). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]