Papers by Ibtisam Marey-Sarwan
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry
Children and Youth Services Review, 2024
Child neglect is considered the most prevalent type of child maltreatment, yet it is the type lea... more Child neglect is considered the most prevalent type of child maltreatment, yet it is the type least studied partly due to a lack of clear and united definition. As schools are a critical setting in children’s lives, teachers are
essential actors in identifying child neglect. The limited available literature points to gaps in teachers’ knowledge and insecurity about the topic. Thus, the current study tries to untangle how child neglect is perceived and identified by three groups within the educational setting: teachers, prospective teachers, and pupils. Twenty-five focus groups with a total of 151 Arab and Jewish Israeli participants were conducted. Inductive thematic analysis revealed two main themes. The first theme of knowledge and understanding of child neglect refers to recognizing
neglectful lack of actions of neglect and those responsible for it. The second theme focused on identifying child neglect within the educational setting and the barriers to recognition. The study findings generally show that participants had a reasonable familiarity with the concept of child neglect and its typologies. Participants did not give special focus to the academic aspects when describing child neglect but did identify, uniquely, the school setting as a possible source of neglect. Participants described common ways for recognizing child neglect, focusing on children’s behavior and attitudes. Surprisingly, only small differences were found between the perspectives of teachers, prospective teachers, and pupil participants, and between Arabs and Jews. The study findings and implications for the education setting and education training are discussed.
Behavioral Sciences, 2024
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Child Indicators Research
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Jul 23, 2023
Child neglect is considered the most common form of child maltreatment with severe implications f... more Child neglect is considered the most common form of child maltreatment with severe implications for children’s development. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of scholarly literature examining child neglect, possibly stemming from a lack of consistent definition. The current qualitative study addresses this gap by aiming to understand the phenomena of child neglect from the direct perspective of youth from the general population, a perspective that has so far barely been considered. Data were collected by 10 focus groups conducted among multicultural youth aged 12 to 15 years in the north of Israel. The qualitative-thematic analysis generated three main themes, each including several subthemes: (a) experience of neglectful behavior (lack of parental care, lack of parental priority, dynamics of blaming the child, rejection, and relinquishment of the child); (b) instrumental characteristics of neglect (lack of material and financial investment in the child, expressions of neglect in providing food and nutrition, poor appearance and hygiene of the child and home); (c) lack of parental involvement (lack of parental guidance, lack of communication and availability, lack of presence in the child’s life). The perspectives of the Israeli youth resembled existing conceptualizations of child neglect. The youth also added a new dimension to the conceptualizations in their focus on the emotional context involved in the range of neglectful behaviors they described. This new conceptualization of child neglect is discussed together with some suggestions for how it can inform better professional practice.
OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying
Evidence indicates that the religious beliefs of patients, potential donors, family members, and ... more Evidence indicates that the religious beliefs of patients, potential donors, family members, and healthcare professionals play an important role in deciding to donate an organ. We aim to summarize the religious views of Christians, Muslims, and Jews on organ donation contributing to the decision-making process. Different approaches to this topic worldwide are presented, providing helpful information for medical professionals. A literature review was conducted regarding the view of Israel's leadership of the three largest religions on organ transplantation. This review revealed that all Israeli central religious leaders have a positive view on organ donation. However, various aspects of the transplantation process (such as consent, brain death, and respect for the dead body) must be carried out as each religion prescribes. Thus, understanding the different religious views and regulations on organ donations may help reduce religious concerns about transplantation and narrow the ga...
Evidence indicates that the religious beliefs of patients, potential donors, family members, and ... more Evidence indicates that the religious beliefs of patients, potential donors, family members, and healthcare professionals play an important role in deciding to donate an organ. We aim to summarize the religious views of Christians, Muslims, and Jews on organ donation contributing to the decision-making process. Different approaches to this topic worldwide are presented, providing helpful information for medical professionals. A literature review was conducted regarding the view of Israel's leadership of the three largest religions on organ transplantation. This review revealed that all Israeli central religious leaders have a positive view on organ donation. However, various aspects of the transplantation process (such as consent, brain death, and respect for the dead body) must be carried out as each religion prescribes. Thus, understanding the different religious views and regulations on organ donations may help reduce religious concerns about transplantation and narrow the gap between the need and the availability of organ donations.
Transplantation Proceedings
Psychological Applications and Trends
The study is based on a participatory, context-informed study that examined the perception of 'ri... more The study is based on a participatory, context-informed study that examined the perception of 'risk' and 'protection' among 30 Bedouin children aged four to five. It was conducted in the Bedouin unrecognized Villages of the Naqab-Southern Israel and utilized photography, drawings , and verbal explanations. The analysis yielded seven themes representing children's perceptions of risk and protection. It indicated that children facing extreme adversity were aware of numerous risk conditions, including a lack of infrastructure and the fear of losing their homes, thus adversely affecting their well-being. Children's insights, and suggested modes of protection, as the study findings reveal, are crucial for promoting children's welfare.
Psychological Applications and Trends
"Neglect of children and youth by their parents severely affects children’s development. Unf... more "Neglect of children and youth by their parents severely affects children’s development. Unfortunately, literature on child neglect focuses on professional discourse while rarely examining the views of children and youth themselves. This lacuna is interwoven with the broader issue of children’s expectations of their parents, which are also scarcely studied. This study aims to gain a more nuanced understanding of youth life experiences, focusing on two related and complementary issues: their expectations of parents and their perceptions of child neglect. The study employed a qualitative paradigm focusing on the meanings and interpretation of social phenomena and social processes in context. Data were gathered via focus group discussions from a total of 31 youth, through purposive sampling according to age (13 and 14) and ethnic affiliation (Muslim Arabs in northern Israel), and thematically analyzed. The data analysis showed that youth expectations of their parents reflect their perceptions of neglect. Four themes arose: emotional wellbeing, responsibility and supervision, guidance and companionship, and providing material needs. The findings highlight the need to include voices representing diverse groups in the population, as part of context-informed perception in discourses of parenting and child neglect. These voices provide a platform for examining the complexity inherent in negotiating neglect in the unique context of youth, and the importance of recognizing their unique perceptions. The voices raised the importance of emotional and psychological needs for the youths’ wellbeing and development to a greater extent than material and physical needs."
Context-Informed Perspectives of Child Risk and Protection in Israel
This chapter offers an overview on methodological issues of the studies presented in the book. Th... more This chapter offers an overview on methodological issues of the studies presented in the book. Those studies on child risk and protection utilized a qualitative approach aimed at a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the phenomena by examining perceptions, worldviews, and the meanings of parents, children and professionals, which are influenced by different and multiple contexts and by the subjective interpretations of the participants. The studies also utilized a grounded theory methodology, aiming for the systematic development of a conceptual model grounded in data. Finally, the studies employed the constructivist version of grounded theory, which places the research process and product in historical, social, and situational contexts and adopts a more critical approach to the inquiry. In the first part of this chapter, the main methodological aspects used by the majority of NEVET-Greenhouse’s researchers in their studies were outlined, including an overall description of the research’s samples, data collection, procedures, and analysis. In the second part of this chapter, several methodological principles and challenges of context-informed research on issues related to child risk and protection were described and discussed. Several ways of overcoming those challenges and barriers in conducting context-informed research were also described (e.g., caution, contextual awareness, reflection processes, adaptation, working in a research group), hoping that this may assist context-informed research in becoming a potential strategy to destabilize binary and oppressive theoretical, methodological and practical boundaries and discourses with minority and silenced populations.
Curriculum and Teaching
This case study explored the real-time experience of participants in the Arab Academic College fo... more This case study explored the real-time experience of participants in the Arab Academic College for Education in Haifa, Israel, during the coronavirus pandemic. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with management, administrative staff, faculty and students. Participants' stories reveal that feelings of stress and isolation gave way to new learning and self-discovery, a new relationship with time, and the creation of new knowledge on the personal and institutional levels. Strong, coordinated leadership, combined with legal and financial security, facilitated the transition to online learning and allowed the college to emerge from the crisis successfully. Implications are drawn for dealing with future crises.
Marriage & Family Review, 2021
This qualitative study draws on the ecological theory and the context-informed perspective to exp... more This qualitative study draws on the ecological theory and the context-informed perspective to explore the experience of being in a situation where there is a contradiction between the societal expe...
This chapter is based on a qualitative study that utilized the conceptual frameworks of the socio... more This chapter is based on a qualitative study that utilized the conceptual frameworks of the sociology of childhood and the context-informed perspective with the aim of exploring perspectives on risk and protection of 260 children, ages 3–6, from 11 different communities in Israel. Data were collected via children’s drawings, photos, verbal explanations, and descriptions and were analyzed using a thematic analysis of the interviews. The findings suggest that children’s perceptions of risk and protection reflect a wide range of contexts such as the political context, the kindergarten context, leisure time, the house, neighborhoods, weather, health and disease prevention, and the religious and spiritual contexts. The study highlights the impact of a context-informed perspective in the debate about risk and child protection. It underscores the importance of giving voice to children, understanding their reality and acknowledging the contexts that affect their everyday lives. The findings...
This chapter aims to examine parental socialization goals and practices in the Bedouin-Arab commu... more This chapter aims to examine parental socialization goals and practices in the Bedouin-Arab communities in the Naqab (the Arab term for the Negev desert area in the southern part of Israel) from a contextual-historical perspective. The Bedouins are a former tribal nomadic group who lived together as unions of extended families. In recent decades, they have been forced to undergo a rapid change from nomadic life to permanent settlements. This transition restricted their life as pastorals and brought high unemployment rates and poverty. It changed the shape of their everyday life, and affected their socialization goals and parenting practices. Villages in the Naqab area, which are unrecognized by the Israeli government, demonstrate traditional collective social norms that promote values of relatedness and interdependence. More than a third of the families are polygamous and live as extended families. As the Bedouins consider children a status symbol, they have a high fertility rate (6.5 children per woman) and rely on collective infant care and supportive family networks. There are many studies that deal with the transition from rural to urbanized life and its effects on women’s status, socialization goals, and parental practices; however, there is limited knowledge about Bedouin motherhood during their infants’ first year of life. This chapter will provide data from an exploratory study that aims to fill this gap. In our study, we followed 33 Bedouin mothers for one year, using a mixed methods research approach, including interviews and closed-ended "socialization goals" questionnaires to inquire about their parenting practices, as well as observing and videotaping them in their daily interactions with their children. The study aimed at understanding how those mothers adapted their parenting ideas and practices to the challenges of their new living conditions.
Nursing Inquiry
Abstract The sudden outbreak of the COVID‐19 epidemic forced healthcare workers to use all their ... more Abstract The sudden outbreak of the COVID‐19 epidemic forced healthcare workers to use all their professional and personal skills to battle it. The unexpected onset of the disease has led to extraordinary pressure on healthcare workers and has challenged their resilience. The study aimed to explore the subjective experiences of 18 Israeli nurses who are directly treating COVID‐19 patients, and to identify the sources of resilience used by nurses to address national health crises. The data were gathered via semi‐structured interviews and thematically analyzed. The analysis yielded three central analytic themes that described the nurses’ experiences during the pandemic: maneuvering between professional demands and personal‐family life; the nurses’ coping strategies and resilience; and nurses' use of metaphorical military language as a way of coping with the difficulties. The findings show that in a time of severe health crisis, and despite the fear of infection, nurses adhere to the values of the profession and are willing to fight the virus to save lives. The nurses' extensive use of military metaphorical language reflected their experiences, strengthened them, and provided them with a source of empowerment in the face of a common enemy that needed to be overcome.
Journal of Religion and Health
This qualitative study focuses on the "underground" practices of Sunni Muslim physician... more This qualitative study focuses on the "underground" practices of Sunni Muslim physicians and patients who are performing and undergoing religiously prohibited third-party gamete donation. It is based on face-to-face interviews with two Sunni Muslim gynecologists and 25 Sunni Muslim women who underwent third-party gamete donation treatments and gave birth to a baby. The analysis of the interviews sheds light on patients' experiences regarding donation and explores the experiences of the gynecologists. The patients shared with us their inner conflict regarding childbearing using either donated sperm or a donated egg. They expressed a subversive attitude toward the religious authorities and the Islamic fatwa (religious ruling) that prohibits third-party gamete donation. The gynecologists provide fertility care involving third-party gamete donation despite Islamic religious prohibitions; in consequence, they suffer feelings of guilt for their actions. The study participants challenge accepted binary conceptions regarding the boundaries between religious laws and the desire to produce offspring, between what is allowed and what is forbidden, between guilt and happiness, and between the desire to maintain a marital relationship and the desire to comply with cultural–religious rules. Based on Gloria Anzaldua’s theory of the borderlands, and the context-informed approach, this study underscores the importance of giving voice to Sunni Muslim patients who underwent third-party gamete donation treatments and contributes to a deeper understanding of their dilemma of finding a reproductive solution that does not run counter to religious values.
Social Identities
ABSTRACT The present article examines the concept of the home and its loss from various viewpoint... more ABSTRACT The present article examines the concept of the home and its loss from various viewpoints, especially in the context of conflict zones and war. It is based on a research study that examined the experience of Palestinians residing in northern Israel whose homes were demolished during the Second Lebanon War. The study focused on the significance they imparted to the attack on their homes and their loss. In the course of the research study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 Palestinian citizens of Israel whose homes were damaged or demolished by Hezbollah. They were requested to describe these events and their experiences, feelings, and thoughts. Results indicate that the loss or damage to their families’ homes raised psycho-political issues demanding serious consideration. In addition, the article reveals how loss of the home and its accompanying violence uncovered, lack of social justice and ongoing structural oppression. It appears from the interviews that the daily implications of loss echo past and present losses, discrimination, and a lack of equality on the part of the Israeli state. The study emphasizes the link between political and psychological, and the strong connection between history, politics, structural oppression, and mental health.
Children & Society
This article is based on a participatory, context-informed study that examined perception of ‘ris... more This article is based on a participatory, context-informed study that examined perception of ‘risk’ and ‘protection’ among 30 Bedouin children aged four to five. It was conducted in the Bedouin unrecognised villages — Southern Israel and utilised photography, drawings and verbal explanations. The analysis yielded seven themes representing children’s perceptions of risk and protection. It indicated that childre facing extreme adversity were aware of numerous risk conditions, including a lack of infrastructure and the fear of losing their homes, thus adversely affecting their well-being. Children’s insights, and suggested modes of protection, as the study findings reveal, are crucial for promoting children’s welfare. Keywords: Bedouin children in Israel, context-informed perspective, protection, risk, visual methods.
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Papers by Ibtisam Marey-Sarwan
essential actors in identifying child neglect. The limited available literature points to gaps in teachers’ knowledge and insecurity about the topic. Thus, the current study tries to untangle how child neglect is perceived and identified by three groups within the educational setting: teachers, prospective teachers, and pupils. Twenty-five focus groups with a total of 151 Arab and Jewish Israeli participants were conducted. Inductive thematic analysis revealed two main themes. The first theme of knowledge and understanding of child neglect refers to recognizing
neglectful lack of actions of neglect and those responsible for it. The second theme focused on identifying child neglect within the educational setting and the barriers to recognition. The study findings generally show that participants had a reasonable familiarity with the concept of child neglect and its typologies. Participants did not give special focus to the academic aspects when describing child neglect but did identify, uniquely, the school setting as a possible source of neglect. Participants described common ways for recognizing child neglect, focusing on children’s behavior and attitudes. Surprisingly, only small differences were found between the perspectives of teachers, prospective teachers, and pupil participants, and between Arabs and Jews. The study findings and implications for the education setting and education training are discussed.
essential actors in identifying child neglect. The limited available literature points to gaps in teachers’ knowledge and insecurity about the topic. Thus, the current study tries to untangle how child neglect is perceived and identified by three groups within the educational setting: teachers, prospective teachers, and pupils. Twenty-five focus groups with a total of 151 Arab and Jewish Israeli participants were conducted. Inductive thematic analysis revealed two main themes. The first theme of knowledge and understanding of child neglect refers to recognizing
neglectful lack of actions of neglect and those responsible for it. The second theme focused on identifying child neglect within the educational setting and the barriers to recognition. The study findings generally show that participants had a reasonable familiarity with the concept of child neglect and its typologies. Participants did not give special focus to the academic aspects when describing child neglect but did identify, uniquely, the school setting as a possible source of neglect. Participants described common ways for recognizing child neglect, focusing on children’s behavior and attitudes. Surprisingly, only small differences were found between the perspectives of teachers, prospective teachers, and pupil participants, and between Arabs and Jews. The study findings and implications for the education setting and education training are discussed.
Introduction: Most of our knowledge about attachment theory comes from WEIRD society Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic people who constitute a minority in this world. However, researchers and professionals increasingly highlight the need to understand child development and risk in the non-Western majority world This call characterizes a major shift in perspectives and approaches towards the role of the environment in child development according to an ecological cultural approach.
The current study utilizes a context informed perspective that goes beyond the Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner 1994, 2005) and adds Critical Theories (Mass, 2004; Shalhoub-Kevorkian & Roer-Strier, 2015) to the Ecological Perspective. In doing so, it considers structural factors, power relations, and understanding of the political context. This study examines perceptions of the Bedouin population from the unrecognized villages (UVs) in the Naqab in Southern Israel. It provides an analysis of the effect of socio-cultural-political context -emotional development, maternal belief systems, attachment, perceptions of risk, and coping with risks.
The Bedouins in the UVs represent a traditional and collective society that promotes values of hierarchical relatedness. Nowadays, Bedouins in the Naqab face rapid and dramatic cultural changes due to the transition from a semi-nomadic to a sedentary life and urbanization. These changes pose unique challenges for Bedouin societies. The transition changed the shape of their everyday life, affecting their socialization goals and parenting practices. Various studies exist on the Bedouin society in the Naqab. However, there is limited knowledge about Bedouin mother
socio-emotional development, perceptions of risk for children, and coping mechanisms.
Objectives: -emotional
development and risk perceptions in a socio-political context; 2) To document the socialization systems in the Bedouin child's first year; 3) To learn from minority parents by involving them in defining domains of risk. Moreover, we sought to document their ideas regarding prevention and
learn about their coping mechanisms as a basis for designing future prevention and intervention programs.
Method: The longitudinal study presents the attitudes and practices of Bedouin parents over the course of one year. Utilizing a mixed method approach, researchers collected data between 2011 and 2013. The research is based on a mixed method approach, which included in-depth interviews with 33 mothers; 4 focus groups with women and 1 with men; socio-demographic and socialization goals questionnaires; as well as structured observations of the mothers daily interactions with their children at two points of time.
Main Findings and Discussion: First, the data yielded perceptions of parenting that varied between traditional, androcentric perceptions of parenting (faithful to the patriarchal spirit of Bedouin society) to a more Westernized perception of parenting. These findings are tightly linked to the socio-historical and political contexts of the tribes; they reveal that the rapid and forced transition to permanent settlement poses unique challenges for the Arab-Bedouin society, including challenges to their parenting (Marey-Sarwan, Otto, Roer-Strier, & Keller, 2015)1. Second, the findings in the second paper proved surprising and unexpected for Bedouin society, which exhibits high hierarchical relational socialization goals and multiple caregiving arrangements. The findings revealed two groups of Bedouin infants with respect to the display of stranger anxiety: More than half the children showed stranger anxiety, whereas the rest did not. These findings may reflect that the Bedouins in the unrecognized villages have to combine traditional beliefs and attitudes with their particularly risky and dangerous socio-political situation (Marey-Sarwan, Keller, & Otto, 2015)2. The findings in the third paper display
numerous risk conditions that hindering societal and individual development and children's well - being. At the same time, the findings indicate that most of the families manage to survive in very harsh conditions, coping with their plight and distress (Marey-Sarwan, Roer-Strier, & Otto, submitted)3.
Overall, our findings emphasize the relevance of context and the importance of a context informed perspective, including an awareness of historical and political effects in relation to theories of child development and parenting. Additionally, the findings highlight the need to include parental voices in discourses on parenting, risk, and protection. These findings have major implications for professionals working with marginalized and oppressed populations.