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Women who frequent soup kitchens: a cultural, gender-mainstreaming perspective
- Author:
- POSSICK Chaya
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work, 19(3), 2019, pp.397-414.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Summary: The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the meanings Israeli women who frequent soup assign to this experience. The study is based on participant observation and 16 recorded interviews with women in eight soup kitchens in Israel. The study adopts a gender-mainstreaming approach to food security that privileges the life knowledge of women living in poverty. The grounded theory method was employed in the collection and analysis of the data-field notes and interviews. Findings: Four main categories regarding women’s constructions of motivations for frequenting soup kitchens emerged: (1) nutritional needs, (2) feeding others, (3) overall economic strategy, and (4) social needs. The issue of dealing with shame is also explored from a humanist and cultural perspective. Applications: The findings indicate the need for social workers to consider food security, and eating arrangements when making assessments, evaluating interventions and developing programs and policies in all practice settings. Social workers need to provide information about community food services that are accessible and user-friendly for their women clients who deal with food insecurity and social isolation. Soup kitchens should be structured to allow for active participation of the service users in the administration and operation of food security programs. Finally, social workers should adopt a critical, feminist position regarding women’s use of soup kitchens as an oppressive survival strategy that stems from inequality in gender and class power relations. (Edited publisher abstract)
Coping with the threat of place disruption by long-term Jewish settlers on the West Bank
- Author:
- POSSICK Chaya
- Journal article citation:
- International Social Work, 49(2), March 2006, pp.198-207.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This article presents a qualitative analysis of place disruption as experienced by settlers on the West Bank during the Oslo peace process. The findings demonstrate that place ideology develops and persists as a response to stress. The article concludes with a discussion of the importance of addressing ideological issues in social work interventions.
Women's experience of drug abuse treatment in a mixed-gender therapeutic community
- Authors:
- POSSICK Chaya, ITZICH Michal
- Journal article citation:
- Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 33(4), 2018, pp.493-508.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This qualitative study explores the experience of treatment in a mixed-gender therapeutic community (TC) by Israeli women coping with drug addiction. The vast majority of studies reveal that the techniques used in TCs are designed based on men’s needs. This study focuses on the meanings assigned by women to their experiences within the TC in light of the intersectionality theory and the social construction of gender. The study is based on an interpretative phenomenological approach. Seventeen middle-aged women answered open-ended questionnaires or participated in in-depth interviews. Textual analysis yielded three themes: (1) there’s no place like home—searching for family in the TC; (2) fulfillment and difficulty in intimate relationships in the TC; (3) overall evaluation: mixed-gender TCs are a mixed bag. The discussion focuses on the sociocultural context of women’s treatment in the TC, the male power paradigm, and the individualistic focus that serves as the foundation of the TC approach. The question of how TCs can create safe space for rehabilitating relationships for women is addressed. Finally, implications for policy practice are presented based on the gender-responsive approach. (Edited publisher abstract)
A residential intervention for mothers of terror victims: using a multi-modal therapeutic approach for traumatic loss
- Authors:
- SADEH Ruth Anne, POSSICK Chaya
- Journal article citation:
- Bereavement Care, 28(1), April 2009, pp.22-26.
- Publisher:
- Cruse Bereavement Care
The authors describe a residential programme developed in Israel for mothers bereaved as a result of terrorist attacks. The women are offered a two-day retreat with a varied programme of healing interventions. The approach is holistic in design, integrating a number of therapeutic approaches in a group environment, based on Lazarus's multi-modal approach to brief psychotherapy. The authors show how their programme puts into practice theoretical principles about the integrative treatment of traumatic loss.
Experiencing the relationship with a sibling coping with mental health problems: dilemmas of connection, communication, and role
- Authors:
- KOVACS Tehila, POSSICK Chaya, BUCHBINDER Eli
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 27(5), 2019, pp.1185-1192.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Prolonged mental health problems of one family member influences the whole family system, including sibling relationships. The current research focuses on the way siblings of persons with mental health problems experience the relationship. The findings identify the challenges and difficulties these siblings face and can help mental health practitioners support siblings as well as their brothers and sisters with mental health problems. This qualitative research employs the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method. Data were collected through in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with 14 adult siblings of persons coping with prolonged mental health problems. The sample included seven men and seven women, between the ages of 20–55. Three main themes were identified: (a) Connection: Between involvement and distance; (b) Communication: Controlled confrontation or cautious vagueness; (c) Role: Positioning in the sibling relationship. The discussion introduces the Relational Dialectics Theory in order to understand contradictory statements that arise from the interviewees’ experience of dialectal tensions between: involvement versus distancing; direct confrontation versus cautious vagueness; and opposing positions in relation to the sibling coping with mental health problems. A multi‐voiced discourse allows for dialogue that incorporates the contradictory poles of the dialectic, thus enabling the siblings to balance the tension in the relationship. In addition, the concept of ambiguous loss is used to interpret the findings. The study is limited by the small homogeneous sample. The results highlight the need for practitioners to give special attention to siblings of persons with mental health problems in order to help them process and cope with the challenges in the relationship, thus providing an opportunity for growth and empowerment. (Edited publisher abstract)
The dialectic of chaos and control in the experience of therapists who work with sexually abused children
- Authors:
- POSSICK Chaya, WAISBROD Nirit, BUCHBINDER Eli
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 24(7), 2015, pp.816-836.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding the interaction between the emotionally destructive intensity of the trauma and forces that foster growth in therapists who treat sexually abused children. Data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews with 14 experienced social workers. Content analysis reveals two emotional poles. At one pole, the dominant experiences are anxiety, turmoil, and intrusion that disrupted the order in the interviewee’s secure world. At the opposing pole, the dominant experiences are positive, such as hope and faith. These formed the basis of empowering meaning construction that engendered a sense of control, enabling the therapists to trust the value of intervention with sexually abused children. The discussion uses a dialectical perspective to examine how interaction between these two poles enhances our understanding of the emotional and existential threats inherent in working with children who have experienced sexual abuse and on the potential for positive change. (Publisher abstract)
Between the maternal and the professional: the impact of being a child welfare officer on motherhood
- Authors:
- MENASHE Ayelet, POSSICK Chaya, BUCHBINDER Eli
- Journal article citation:
- Child and Family Social Work, 19(4), 2014, pp.391-400.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Child welfare officers experience stress from exposure to child neglect and abuse and the burden of responsibility for children's well-being. This qualitative study addresses the question: how do social workers who are child welfare officers perceive and cope with the influence of their professional occupation on their relationships with their own children? The research is based on in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 10 child welfare workers who are mothers (of 2–4 children aged 2–23 years). The data analysis illustrates how the professional identity and the maternal identity of the child welfare officer fluctuate between two positions. The first is ‘anxious motherhood’ in which anxiety is the prism through which the welfare officer views the world as dangerous for her children, stimulating protective, control-enhancing actions. The second position is reflective motherhood in which the welfare worker struggles with her own stresses and conflicts as a mother and searches for an experience of meaningful, positive motherhood. The findings reinforce the need to raise the consciousness of child welfare officers regarding the impact of encountering distress and trauma on their own well-being as parents. In this way, they can prevent secondary traumatization and enhance professional and maternal growth. (Original abstract)
Parents’ experience of their child's first psychiatric breakdown: “welcome to hell”
- Authors:
- SHPIGNER Elena, POSSICK Chaya, BUCHBINDER Eli
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Health Care, 52(6), 2013, pp.538-557.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
A retrospective study is used to examine the experiences, challenges, and difficulties faced by Israeli parents during the outbreak of psychiatric illness in their children. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 parents who participated in a psycho-educational group in a family mental health center. Several themes regarding parents’ experience of the first outbreak of their children's psychiatric illness emerge from the content analysis of the interviews: the perception of sudden onset of the illness, feelings of being mired in distress, intense pain stemming from guilt and helplessness with concomitant anger, and isolation. The themes are then discussed in light of the concept of ambiguous loss and the existential approach. The findings indicate psycho-social services in the Israeli mental health system provide only a partial response to the needs of parents during this critical period. (Edited publisher abstract)
In-home intervention with families in distress: changing places to promote change
- Authors:
- WAISBROD Nirit, BUCHBINDER Eli, POSSICK Chaya
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work: A journal of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), 57(2), April 2012, pp.121-132.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This article describes an in-home family therapy intervention implemented by a full-time day care facility in order to help hard-to-reach families whose children had been placed in the day care facility. The intervention was designed to address the difficulties family members experienced in their individual functioning, their relationships with each other, and their dealing with social workers. Four illustrative cases of in-home therapy with severely distressed families are presented. The cases highlight unexpected applications of home intervention, illustrating how and the why the process works. The first 3 cases explicate the contribution of home intervention to the engagement of social worker and client. Each case highlights how home intervention enhances the therapeutic alliance by promoting change from a different starting point: the client (home as a secure base for change); the worker (viewing the client from a different perspective); and the client–worker interaction (power sharing in setting boundaries). The 4th case (in vivo narrative reconstruction) serves as an example of how the home can be enlisted as a partner in reconstructing silenced chapters of the family narrative.