Rivka Savaya

Sources of meaning in life for young and old Israeli Jews and Arabs

Abstract This paper presents preliminary findings generated by the Sources of Life Meaning (SLM), a special instrument compiled to measure the sources of meaning in life for two different ethnic and age groups in Israel. Respondents were 362 younger and older Arab and Jewish women and men. The results reveal the impact of ethnicity and age on most of the 10 sources of meaning, despite similarities in breadth of meaning manifested in the overall amount of meaning in life in all groups. The differences tend to vary according to age group, as more differences are apparent among the older respondents than among the younger ones. Gender impacted on only three sources of meaning, suggesting that culture and age may overshadow gender differences.

Sense of coherence and adjustment to divorce among Muslim Arab citizens of Israel

This study examined the distinctiveness and causal relationships of Antonovskys (1979) Sense of Coherence Scale and the Mental Health Index of Veit and Ware (1983) in a sample of 306 divorced Muslim Arab men and women in Israel. The findings, based on confirmatory factor analysis and latent‐variable structural modelling, suggest that in the present sample sense of coherence (SOC) and mental health are two independent but correlated constructs. They also suggest that, consistent with Antonovskys theory, SOC may be better viewed as a mediator between stress and mental health than as a concurrent outcome of stress, although the latter possibility is not ruled out. Finally, the findings indicate that the SOC of the sample was relatively low in comparison with other groups. Copyright

A Joint University—Field Agency: Toward the Integration of Classroom and Practicum

Abstract The authors describe an innovative program designed to create a joint university and local municipality agency in Israel. The agency was structured to be a teaching laboratory that would offer innovative services for social work clients and a unique field placement for students. Four major goals involved joint outcomes for both university and municipality. These included (a) demonstrating evaluation research as a means of accountability and as a tool for practice; (b) using generic social work methods for work with families; (c) reaching out to difficult and high-risk clients with innovative programs; and (d) using the laboratory as a training center for welfare workers, agency supervisors, and students from all levels of the social work programs. The authors describe and evaluate each of the goals, discussing the implications for teaching and for social work practice.

Social Entrepreneurship: Capacity Building Among Workers in Public Human Service Agencies

ABSTRACT This paper describes a pioneering project developed in a school of social work in Israel to train and actively assist professionals in public human service agencies to initiate, design, and implement innovative social programs. The focus of the project was on the field worker, rather than on the management or organization, as is customary in the literature on entrepreneurialism. The paper provides an overview of the planning, structure, and contents of the project; a discussion of the difficulties that arose in the planning, construction, and implementation stages of the new programs; an outline of the projects evaluation component; and a brief description of the programs that were developed. It ends with a summary and recommendations for improvement.

The potential and utilization of an integrated information system at a family and marriage counselling agency in Israel

This paper discusses the introduction of a computerized integrated information system as a tool to monitor and evaluate the process and outcomes of treatment interventions. It presents the introduction of such a system into a marital and family counselling agency in Israel and discusses the systems potential and under-utilization stemming from the difficulty of convincing the agency staff to make full use of it.

Reasons for divorce among muslim arabs in israel An exploratory study

This is an exploratory, cross-cultural study examining the reasons for divorce in a sample of 312 Muslim Arabs in Israel. Findings showed a combination of modern and traditional reasons, which reflect the transition that Arab society in Israel is undergoing. On the modern side, over two-thirds of both the men and women endorsed ‘did not get along’ and communications problems, common reasons in the West today. On the traditional side, large proportions of respondents cited physical violence and interference by relatives – reasons which are more common in traditional societies, where divorce is stigmatized and otherwise very difficult. In addition, a sizeable proportion of the men cited problems of conception.

Divorce Among Moslem Arabs Living in Israel Comparison of Reasons Before and After the Actualization of the Marriage

This article compares reasons for divorce among two groups of Arab women: regular divorcees, who divorced after living with their husbands, and contract divorcees, who divorced during the waiting period between the signing of the marriage contract and actual cohabitation. The regular divorcees reported more reasons for divorcing than the contract divorcees and were considerably more prone to cite their husband’s physical, sexual, and verbal abuse; lack of commitment to the marriage and family; and alcoholism and mental illness, as well as interference by their in-laws. The contract divorcees were more prone to cite failure to get along, lack of communication, and conflicts over traditional and/or modern lifestyle. These patterns suggest that the regular divorcees divorced for more concrete reasons and only after their marriage had become unbearable, whereas the contract divorcees ended their unions when they realized they would not find compatibiity, communication, and a shared lifestyle.

Perceptions of the Societal Image of Muslim Arab Divorced Men and Women in Israel

This study examined perceptions by divorced Muslim men and women citizens of Israel of their society’s image of divorced persons and the associations between these perceptions and their adjustment to their divorce. The study is based on the reports of a heterogeneous sample of 312 divorced men and women in this community. Findings show that, on the whole, the participants perceive their society as stigmatizing divorced women as bad parents and spouses more than divorced men, that divorced women perceive greatersocietal stigmatization than divorced men, and that adjustment to divorce was directly related to individuals’ perceptions of the societal imageof the divorced person of their own sex.