Tamar Icekson

This qualitative study examines the challenges faced by group leaders during mass trauma following the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel. Twenty-five seasoned leaders who led 43 groups participated in semi-structured interviews. Employing an interpretative phenomenological approach, the analysis revealed four principal dilemmas emerging from participants’ accounts: setting boundaries versus flexibility; adhering to structure versus focusing on the “here and now”; maintaining harmony versus allowing conflict; and discussing the war versus everyday concerns. The findings highlight the significant impact of mass trauma on group dynamics and emphasize the need for flexible and sensitive leadership strategies.

Previous studies have shown that a significant proportion of first-year students tend to maintain favorable self-assessments regarding future performance, displaying a pronounced optimism. This longitudinal study examined how expectations of future performance among freshman students are associated with their actual end-of-degree achievements. Based on the investment theory, we also examined the moderating role of the personality trait of conscientiousness in this relationship. Expectations of future performance at the end-of-first year and conscientiousness levels of 115 freshman students were assessed as predictors of their average academic score at the end-of-the degree. Multiple hierarchical regressions demonstrated that after controlling for high school scores, students who expected better end-of-first-year grades achieved actual better scores at graduation than those who provided lower estimates of their achievements. Results also showed that conscientiousness moderated the expectation-performance relationship, so that it was stronger for students with higher expectations than for students with lower ones. Higher levels of conscientiousness were more beneficial for optimistic students than students with pessimistic views of their performance.

The adverse impacts of childhood maltreatment (CM) on an individual’s health and economic welfare are widely recognized, yet its occupational and organizational effects remain less explored. Employee absenteeism, known as absenteeism, is often a sign of workplace maladjustment and may be linked to a history of CM. Some individuals in the helping professions, who exhibit a strong sense of purpose in their employment and pursue it in demanding environments, are CM survivors. This study investigates whether a heightened sense of meaningfulness in their work is associated with increased absenteeism among this subgroup. We recruited 320 helping professionals from a variety of social and mental health settings, one third of whom reported experiencing CM. As hypothesized, CM was positively correlated with work absenteeism. Furthermore, the relationship between work meaningfulness and absenteeism was moderated by their CM history: among those with CM experiences, greater work meaningfulness was associated with higher absenteeism rates. Our findings highlight the possibility that work meaningfulness may operate as a double-edged sword, and the importance of better understanding the challenges that high-functioning survivors of CM face within organizational contexts.

Job burnout is a major predicament globally, especially among the helping professions. Based on the job demands–resources (JDR) theory and on attachment theory, this study explored the relations between a history of childhood maltreatment (CM), insecure attachment styles (avoidant and anxious), perceived supervisor support and job burnout. A sample of 320 helping professionals participated in the study, of which 35% reported experiencing CM. Findings confirmed the hypothesis that a history of CM was positively related to both avoidant and anxious attachment styles. Anxious attachment style partly mediated the relationship between CM and burnout. In addition, the relationship between CM and burnout was mediated by avoidant attachment style and perceived supervisor support, so that highly avoidant professionals perceived their supervisors as less supportive, reporting higher levels of burnout. Notably, there were no discernible variations in burnout levels when comparing professionals who had experienced maltreatment with those who had not. The study highlights the value of adopting an attachment perspective to better understand job burnout among the helping professions.

Following the conservation of resources, social-cognitive and hope theories, the goals of this study were to identify the role of self-efficacy, proactive coping, and hope as mediators in the relations between learning difficulties and loneliness distress. A questionnaire was sent to current and past students. The sample consisted of 498 participants. The results demonstrated that individuals with learning difficulties reported higher levels of loneliness compared with individuals without learning difficulties. Moreover, self-efficacy, proactive coping, and hope mediated the relations between levels of learning difficulties and loneliness. Specifically, the final model emphasized the important role of hopeful beliefs, since hope mediated the relations between learning difficulties, self-efficacy, and proactive coping with loneliness. In terms of practical implications, professionals’ awareness as well as psychoeducational programs could be tailor-made to enhance hopeful beliefs and reduce loneliness.