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How Different Stressors Affect Quality of Life and Well-Being among Diverse Populations and Social Contexts

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health-Related Quality of Life and Well-Being".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2023) | Viewed by 6284

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Geva Shenkman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University (IDC Herzliya), 8 Ha'Universita st., Herzliya 4610101, Israel
Interests: factors associated with sexual minorities' subjective well-being and mental health; hostile-world scenarios and their associations with psychological welfare; coping and adaptation processes of LGBTQ+ individuals along the lifespan; parenthood aspirations; diverse family configurations
Dr. Nicola Carone

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Interests: parenting, attachment, and child development in diverse family forms, including LGBTQ+ parent families, ART families, and single parent families; psychodynamic assessment of parenting skills; personality and parenting; evidence-based attachment interventions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Life adversities, conditions of threat to ones' physical and mental integrity, challenge, discrimination, harassment, stigma, and prejudice are only some of the stressors that may affect the quality of life and subjective well-being of individuals. In the past few decades, a corpus of research has delineated such stressors and their possible impact on the individuals’ quality of life and well-being. Moreover, studies have explored which populations are more vulnerable to encounter such stressors and the possible mechanisms linking them to adverse well-being outcomes. Studies have also focused on the possible ways people maintain well-being in the face of adversities, offering numerous variables, such as resiliency, positivity, growth, and social support. Understanding the impact of different stressors on the quality of life is especially relevant in these times of ongoing pandemic, war, and economic uncertainties.

This current Special Issue seeks papers dedicated to the exploration of a wide range of stressors affecting the quality of life, well-being, and mental health of diverse populations in diverse social contexts. We welcome papers, including, but not limited to, unique stressors among ethnic, racial, sexual, gender minority groups, and their associations with quality of life and well-being, stressors related with older age, bereavement, being exposed to war or terrorism, stigma, and more. Papers addressing variables shielding from the adverse outcomes of diverse stressors are also welcome. The Special Issue welcomes papers from a diversity of perspectives, including clinical psychology, health psychology, medicine, sociology, and a diversity of social contexts.

Dr. Geva Shenkman
Dr. Nicola Carone
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • well-being
  • quality of life
  • stressors
  • sexual minorities
  • gender minorities
  • ethnic minorities
  • racial minorities
  • resilience
  • diverse social contexts

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 594 KiB  
Article
It’s Not Just Me, It’s Us, Together: The Embodied of the Wounded Healer in the Role of Sex Trade Survival Mentors—A Critical Mentoring Perspective
by Dodish-Adi Kali and Menny Malka
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4089; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054089 - 24 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1676
Abstract
Mentoring is one of the unique forms of rehabilitation used to engage with women in the sex trade. The role creates personal and professional challenges; one concerns the mentors themselves dealing with a past in the sex trade, embodying within it a sign [...] Read more.
Mentoring is one of the unique forms of rehabilitation used to engage with women in the sex trade. The role creates personal and professional challenges; one concerns the mentors themselves dealing with a past in the sex trade, embodying within it a sign of social disgrace. Echoing the concept of the “wounded healer,” the present study examines how mentors who are sex trade survivors perceive their role in supporting the rehabilitation of women in the sex trade and the meanings that they give it. The research is based on a qualitative approach from a critical-feminist point of view. Eight female mentors and sex trade survivors, working in different settings, participated in the study. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Based on content analysis, the study points to four components of mentoring vis-à-vis the rehabilitation of women in the sex trade: (1) mutual identification and shared destiny; (2) corrective experience; (3) hope; and (4) saving lives. In addition, mentoring serves as a bridge for the mentors, eliciting opportunities for growth transforming out of their pain. The research findings are discussed in the context of the theoretical framework of critical mentoring, and how a relationship and a therapeutic alliance can turn mentoring into a critical healing practice, in relation to four principles: (1) equality; (2) critical empathy; (3) recognition; and (4) solidarity. The paper encourages the use of mentoring-based interventions in the process of rehabilitating women in the sex trade. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Different Stressors Affect Quality of Life and Well-Being among Diverse Populations and Social Contexts)
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13 pages, 335 KiB  
Article
Dreams Shared on Social Networks during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tower of Babel or Noah’s Ark?—A Group-Analytic Perspective
by Shulamit Geller, Gal Van den Brink, Yehoshua Akerman, Sigal Levy, Tuli Shazar and Gil Goldzweig
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 3534; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043534 - 17 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1756
Abstract
Dream sharing is a universal practice, and various incentives have been identified, including emotional processing, emotional relief, and demands for containment. Shared dreams can contribute to an individual’s understanding of social reality during traumatic and stressful events. The present study examined dreams shared [...] Read more.
Dream sharing is a universal practice, and various incentives have been identified, including emotional processing, emotional relief, and demands for containment. Shared dreams can contribute to an individual’s understanding of social reality during traumatic and stressful events. The present study examined dreams shared on social network sites (SNS) during the first COVID-19 lockdown, applying a group-analytic approach. A qualitative dream content analysis conducted by a group of researchers analyzed 30 dreams shared on SNS, focusing on their contents, dominant emotions, and unique group processes. The dream content analysis yielded three meaningful and coherent themes: (1) dominant threats: enemy, danger, and COVID-19; (2) emotional fusion: confusion and despair alongside recovery and hope; and (3) group processes characterized by movement between being alone and being together. The results deepen our understanding of both unique social and psychological group processes and of people’s main experiences and key psychological coping mechanisms in times of collective trauma and natural disasters. They also demonstrate the transformative potential of dreamtelling for individuals’ coping experiences and building hope through the creative social relationships formed within SNS groups. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Different Stressors Affect Quality of Life and Well-Being among Diverse Populations and Social Contexts)
14 pages, 566 KiB  
Article
Contributors to COVID-19-Related Childbirth Anxiety among Pregnant Women in Two Pandemic Waves
by Orit Taubman–Ben-Ari, Miriam Chasson, Hilit Erel-Brodsky, Salam Abu-Sharkia, Vera Skvirsky and Eran Horowitz
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 110; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010110 - 22 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2063
Abstract
COVID-19 has impacted all levels of daily life for people everywhere, with particularly serious implications for pregnant women. This paper examines the COVID-19-related childbirth anxiety (CCA) of Israeli women in the first two waves of the pandemic. We first present two psychotherapeutic case [...] Read more.
COVID-19 has impacted all levels of daily life for people everywhere, with particularly serious implications for pregnant women. This paper examines the COVID-19-related childbirth anxiety (CCA) of Israeli women in the first two waves of the pandemic. We first present two psychotherapeutic case studies with pregnant women in the two waves. This is followed by an empirical study that compared the contribution of background variables, psychological distress, economic concerns, and personal resources to CCA in two samples, Wave 1, March–April 2020 (n = 403) and Wave 2, September–October 2020 (n = 1401), and two subpopulations, Jewish and Arab women. Findings reveal that CCA was significantly lower in Wave 2 than in Wave 1. Furthermore, poorer health, higher education, being an Arab, later gestational week, at-risk pregnancy, wave, higher psychological distress, greater economic concerns, and lower self-compassion contributed to higher childbirth anxiety. Wave moderated the association between optimism and anxiety. The findings of the empirical study, together with insights from the case studies, provide evidence of a decrease in CCA later in the crisis, and indicate the significance of resources for coping with the psychological implications of the pandemic. Moreover, they suggest the importance of empowering self-reliance techniques, such as self-compassion, which was significantly associated with lower anxiety, above and beyond the background and psychological variables. Clinical Impact Statement: Using both psychotherapeutic cases and empirical findings, this study points to the risk and resilience factors that contributed to pregnant women’s COVID-19-related childbirth anxiety (CCA) in the first two waves of the pandemic. The study suggests that CCA was higher in the first wave, as well as among women from a minority group. At the same time, the research shows that resilience resources of optimism and self-compassion contributed to the reduction of anxiety. These findings may guide interventions for the vulnerable group of pregnant women in times of crisis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Different Stressors Affect Quality of Life and Well-Being among Diverse Populations and Social Contexts)
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