Young people's involvement in the sex trade has garnered significant attention over the past decades, leading to increased research, policy, and interventions aimed at supporting them. This study explores the role of stigma in the help-seeking processes of Israeli young people in the sex trade (YPST), with particular focus on how stigma shapes their experiences and decisions in seeking assistance. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 YPST, aged 18-26, in Israel. The absence of minors in the sample limits direct insight into the experiences of younger individuals involved in the sex trade. The findings highlight the pervasive impact of stigma, in particular the deviancy stigma and the victim stigma, on help-seeking. While the deviancy stigma often hinders help-seeking by labeling YPST as promiscuous or morally deviant, it can also motivate them to seek help to avoid labeling. Conversely, the victim stigma, which presents YPST as helpless and passive, can obstruct or promote help-seeking by either undermining agency or encouraging YPST to reclaim their narrative. The findings highlight the importance of a stigma-sensitive approach to supporting YPST, which acknowledges YPST's strengths and agency. The study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on the complex dynamics of stigma and help-seeking among marginalized populations, providing valuable insights for help-providers wishing to support them.

Adolescents often navigate complex psychological, behavioral, and identity-related challenges, yet many do not seek the mental health support they need. Sexual minority youth face additional identity-based barriers that further hinder access to care. A sample of 1,129 Israeli adolescents aged 16–18 (M = 17.42, SD = 1.03), including 30

Epistemic justice concerns fair treatment in knowledge production and communicative practices. While early scholarship focused on interpersonal interactions, growing attention has turned to its institutional dimensions. This study examines systemic mechanisms that advance or hinder institutional epistemic justice in social work, focusing on LGBT social workers in Israel. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 LGBT social workers across local authorities, and analyzed using Thematic Content Analysis. Findings identified three interrelated themes, and conceptualize institutional epistemic justice as a spiral process shaped by role definition, spacial positioning, formal and informal structures, and power-knowledge hierarchies within institutional settings.

In 2017, Israel pioneered a globally novel position: LGBT social workers within the welfare system. This marked a transition from NGO-based service delivery to direct governmental responsibility, creating new professional roles for a historically marginalized population within the mainstream welfare system. This study examined how practice-driven processes shape professional role development when serving marginalized populations. A qualitative study employing semi-structured interviews was conducted with 50 social workers who currently hold or previously held LGBT social worker positions across 49 local authorities in Israel (78% coverage). Data were collected between February and September 2024. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four central themes emerged: (1) From ambiguity to practice-driven design-The absence of clear formal definitions enabled workers to become active architects of their own positions through locally responsive approaches; (2) Active outreach and visibility-Institutional denial led to the development of distinctive practices of outreach and visibility as permanent role components, requiring workers to prove population existence while delivering services; (3) Knowledge translation and brokering-The lack of professional LGBT knowledge transformed workers into institutional knowledge authorities and inter-system coordinators, creating new professional discourse across municipal departments; and (4) Structural factors-Client quota systems, part-time allocations, and confidentiality requirements actively shaped role boundaries and functions. The study revealed that professional roles for marginalized populations develop through practice-driven processes operating across three interconnected dimensions: Role Genesis, System Transformation, and Practice under existential role threat. These dimensions operate simultaneously, compelling workers to construct roles while educating systems and defending their existence. The findings demonstrate that structured ambiguity, combined with outreach and visibility work and knowledge brokering, can enable comprehensive institutional innovation. The Israeli model offers insights for developing responsive services for marginalized communities within mainstream welfare systems. The findings inform policy guidance for creating specialized professional roles serving excluded populations in other national contexts.

Accurate knowledge among healthcare and mental health professionals caring for sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth is central to affirmative, culturally competent practice, yet it is frequently conflated with attitudes or self-perceived competence. This conflation limits detection of concrete knowledge gaps that may undermine clinical practice. The present study developed and validated the Sexual and Gender Minority Knowledge Scale (SGM-K), an objective measure of professional knowledge relevant to affirmative youth care. The scale was validated among healthcare and mental health professionals in Israel (N = 318). Analyses established a parsimonious, psychometrically sound instrument and examined associations with theoretically related and unrelated constructs. Findings supported a coherent structure encompassing foundational knowledge of sexual and gender diversity, key concepts and terminology, and clinically relevant awareness of disparities, diagnostic considerations, and policy contexts. The scale demonstrated acceptable reliability. Knowledge was moderately associated with affirmative beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes; showed negligible relations with perceived societal tolerance; and differentiated professionals by training, personal contact, and clinical experience. The SGM-K offers a brief, objective, theory-driven tool for research, workforce development, and evaluation of affirmative care initiatives. Future research should examine cross-national validity and measurement invariance across cultural settings.

Diverse perceptions of paying for sex notwithstanding, it is acknowledged as a societal concern in many countries worldwide, with no consensus reached regarding the most appropriate policies. The present study directed its attention toward heterosexual men who pay for sex and sought to explore the potential influences of distress and gender role conflict (GRC) on the likelihood of sex payment, while taking into consideration attitudes toward paying for sex as a mediating factor. Data were collected from a quota sample of 934 heterosexual Israeli men. Of all sociodemographic variables, regression analysis showed that lower level of religiosity was the only significant predictor of sex payment. Above and beyond religiosity, higher level of distress, the GRC scales of Restrictive Emotionality, Success/Power/Competition, and Conflict Between Work and Family Relations, and attitudes of paying for sex as a legitimate behavior were significant predictors of sex payment. Conversely, lower levels of Restrictive Affectionate Behavior Between Men and attitudes viewing paying for sex as a deviant behavior were also found to be significant predictors of paying for sex. Moreover, attitudes toward paying for sex fully mediated the association between distress, most of the components of GRC, and paying for sex. Our findings highlight the interconnectedness between masculine role socialization and men's psychological experiences, and the potential relevance of these associations to men's involvement in sex payment. Furthermore, the significant role of attitudes toward paying for sex in the actualization of sex payment is discussed.

This study examines how contact with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other sexual and gender minorities) individuals moderates the relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward same-sex parenting among social workers in Israel. While previous research has established negative correlations between religiosity and attitudes toward LGBT individuals and same-sex parenting, little is known about factors that may moderate this relationship, particularly among helping professionals. Using data from 506 Israeli social workers, we found that contact with LGBT individuals significantly moderated the negative relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward same-sex parenting, with the strongest effect observed among highly religious social workers. These findings have important implications for social work education and practice. This study explores how social workers' religious beliefs affect their attitudes toward same-sex parenting, and whether knowing LGBT individuals personally makes a difference. We surveyed 506 social workers in Israel and found that religious social workers generally had more negative attitudes toward same-sex parenting. However, those who had personal contact with LGBT individuals showed significantly more positive attitudes. This effect was strongest among the most religious social workers, suggesting that meaningful contact with LGBT individuals can help bridge the gap between religious beliefs and professional obligations. The findings highlight the importance of including both LGBT education and opportunities for meaningful contact with LGBT individuals in social work training, particularly for students from religious backgrounds who may have limited prior exposure to diverse family structures.

Research on the sex trade during COVID-19 has documented the intertwined material and emotional hardships faced by individuals in the sex trade. Building on these insights, this article examines how self-care practices functioned as relational and strategic responses to crisis. Drawing on twenty semi-structured interviews conducted in Israel between May and December 2020, findings highlight two intersecting themes: the emotional burden caused by isolation, surveillance, and financial insecurity; and the self-care strategies participants employed to sustain themselves. These included reaching out for support, engaging in mutual aid, returning to work under duress, and setting protective boundaries. Rather than viewing self-care as a personal wellness practice, the article conceptualises it as a situated form of agency shaped by structural neglect. While the data reflect a specific historical moment, the insights they generate speak to broader questions of crisis governance, marginality, and the everyday production of resilience. By centreing the voices and practices of individuals in the sex trade, the article offers a politically attuned understanding of self-care under systemic disruption. This study offers empirical insight into how marginalised individuals navigated crisis conditions, advances a relational understanding of self-care shaped by systemic forces, and suggests the policy relevance of peer-informed, community-based approaches.

Based on the minority stress model, which emphasizes the unique risk stressors that impact LGBTQ youths ' lives, and the resilience perspective, which emphasizes the interaction between protective and promotive factors in youth and their surroundings, we investigated in this exploratory study the mechanism by which natural mentoring relationships contribute to LGBTQ youths ' hope. A web sampling of LGBTQ youth aged 12 -25 (N = 198) was used, and participants answered a self -report questionnaire to assess their hope, mentor support, risk factors (i.e., internalized homophobia, anti-LGBTQ harassment, level of outness, gender identity and sexual orientation) and personal characteristics. Findings showed that the support of mentors, particularly mentors as autonomy promoters, contributed significantly to LGBTQ youths ' hope. Results also revealed that transgender youth had lower levels of hope than did LGBQ cisgender youth. The mediation analysis revealed that the support of mentors mediated the link between risk factors (e.g., antigay harassment, internalized homophobia) and higher levels of hope. The discussion suggests considering both risk and protective factors as an integral part of LGBTQ youth intervention programs in the contexts of their lives (e.g., school). Also discussed are the possible explanations for the contribution of natural mentoring and the mechanism involved in risk and protective factors. Implications for practice emphasize the importance of increasing LGBTQ youths ' hope via their social ties with mentors in their environments.

The last two decades have seen a wave of legislative reforms in the regulation of the sex industry in many countries around the world. One particularly controversial reform is known as “End Demand” legislation: laws that criminalize clients of sex workers. This study explores what predicts public attitudes regarding the impact of end demand legislation, based on an online survey, conducted in January 2020, of 2012 Israeli adults, just after such a law passed in Israel in December 2018. We focus on attitudes regarding the impact of end demand legislation, as correlated with attitudes toward women who sell sex (WSS), men who pay for sex (MPS), and policies related to the sex industry and gender. We found that a majority of the Israeli public had not formed an opinion regarding whether the law would achieve its declared goals as well as regarding its impact. Most of those who held an opinion about the law’s impact thought that it would not reduce the selling of sex and that it would negatively impact people involved in the sex industry. We also found greater support of criminalization of WSS among those who supported end demand legislation. The study presents these findings, explores their implications—and specifically the failure of supporters of the law to convince the public of its ability to positively impact WSS —and highlights the public’s troubling tendency to link support for the criminalization of MPS with that of the criminalization of WSS.

Background: The literature on help engagement of commercially sexually exploited youth has tended to focus on the challenges of such relationships and has been mostly grounded in studies of professional help relations from professional perspectives. Objective: This study is part of a large-scale study on help seeking and help related experiences from the perspectives of commercially sexually exploited youth (CSEY). This paper focuses specifically on the beneficial characteristics of help as seen by CSEY. Participants and setting: Fifty commercially sexually exploited youths, in the present or in the past. Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews, conducted and analyzed in accordance with the principles of Constructivist Grounded Theory. Results: The study identified four characteristics of beneficial help that were salient both to help relations with professionals and in relations with peers and friends: Continuity and long-term ties; Sharing similarities; brokering help by others; "doing family," and "performing home." Conclusions: The significance of the various help experiences appeared to be more a function of how the help was provided and the nature of the relationship, rather than whether it was provided by formal or informal helpers. Nonetheless, the study underscores the critical importance of care and support by peers and friends and calls for further examination of the ways these might be integrated into services and programs for youths who are subject to commercial sexual exploitation. It also cautions not to "professionalize" informal friendships.

This interpretive qualitative meta-synthesis (QMS) aims to systematically review what we know about the help-seeking and help-related experiences of commercially sexually exploited youth (CSEY). A comprehensive search of the relevant databases was conducted to identify published qualitative peer-reviewed papers and research reports about the experiences and perceptions of CSEY. A corpus of 34 qualitative studies was compiled and synthesized, using the conceptual framework of help-seeking and QMS guidelines. The QMS reveals that although help-seeking of CSEY are rarely the focus of the inquiry, the reviewed studies include meaningful information about help-related experiences of CSEY. Thus, the synthesis of the available data yields novel insights about how CSEY perceive their involvement in CSE, define the problems they deal with, decide to seek help, choose the proper help, and engage in helping relations. Particularly, the QMS underscores that CSEY do not always perceive their involvement in CSE as problematic, nor do they identify themselves as victims of exploitation. The findings highlight the significance of developing social services that specialize in helping CSEY, the importance of actively identifying CSEY and reaching out to them, and the need to enable CSEY to be involved in decisions about the extent and type of support they are provided.

Background: Previous research points to the many challenges that help providers who support commercially sexually exploited youth encounter in their professional work-yet little is known about how they overcome these challenges, particularly with regard to youth of diverse social backgrounds.Objective: The present study applied the conceptual frameworks of help-seeking and intersectionality to explore the professional practices that help providers employ when forging a help relationship with commercially sexually exploited youth. Participants and setting: Israeli help providers who work with commercially sexually exploited youth at various social services. Method: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted, and analyzed using constructivist grounded theory approach.Findings: We identified six major guiding principles that support the participants' processes of forging a help relationship with commercially sexually exploited youth: Do not assume that the youth view their involvement in commercial sexual exploitation as problematic; Continuously attempt to gain the youth's trust; Start from the point where the youth are; Be available at all times, and maintain a steady long-term relationship; Treat commercially sexually exploited youth as agentic individuals and encourage them to lead the process of establishing a help relationship; Similarity in social backgrounds of help providers and commercially sexually exploited youth promotes youth's engagement in the help relationship.Conclusions: Assuming the co-existence of benefit and harm in commercial sexual exploitation is essential to forging a help relationship with the youth. Applying the intersectional lens to practice in this field can help preserve the delicate balance between victimhood and agency, thereby enhancing help processes.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a collateral effect on marginalized populations, including individuals in the sex trade (IST). In addition, the literature of the past year has documented a significant impact of the pandemic on healthcare providers. However, there is a lack of research on the new challenges and existing hardships facing aid organizations working with IST populations. This naturalistic qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with 33 IST aid organization workers in Israel between May and July 2020 to capture their perceptions and experiences within broader social-relational contexts. Data analysis revealed that the pandemic impacted three different arenas: The assistance systems and the quality of care; The relationship between aid organizations and state authorities; and The intraorganizational and interorganizational relationship. These findings add to the knowledge about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on aid organizations, particularly the need for greater collaboration between aid organizations during health crises and governmental support for these organizations. In addition, the study highlights the opportunities that a global and local health crisis can create advancing new knowledge and practices used by aid organizations in their work to assist IST populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Background Gay men use recreational drugs more often than heterosexuals—especially at social events. While partying at a venue, partygoers are at risk of drug overdosing, without access to an emergency help. This study evaluates a unique and novel intervention aimed at training men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender individuals who frequent parties, to provide immediate assistance on-site to partygoers who have overdosed. Methods The Party Keepers (PK) course is a unique 4-h training course that provides the participants with tools to identify, prevent, and treat common medical syndromes that are associated with excessive substance use. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire on their sociodemographic attributes; their sexual risk behaviour; pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use and drug-use behaviour before and after the course; and the emergency situations they encountered in party venues after the course. Results Of the 85 participants who completed the training and left valid contact information, 52 (62%) completed the questionnaires. Their average age was 37.0 years, most lived in Tel-Aviv, and were single. Participants reported that, after the course, they reduced their own use of recreational drugs (cocaine, amyl nitrates, alcohol), reduced their sexual risk behaviours, and significantly increased their use of PrEP. Of all the PKs, 63% (N = 32) indicated that they now provided first-aid and other assistance to partygoers at public venues, which enhanced their sense of community responsibility. In the multivariate analysis, a high level of confidence as a PK, and the knowledge gained in the course, predicted the incidence of subsequent assistance to partygoers in emergency situations. Conclusions The PK initiative—a harm-reduction intervention led by peers, aimed at fighting drug overdosing at gay venues—was useful in reducing drug use and sexual risk behaviours among the course participants. Most course participants also responded to drug-related emergency situations at gay parties, as a result. This evaluation of community health intervention within a sexual minority community can help health policy makers design more community based interventions and allocate resources to include community participants in harm-reduction policies.

Little is known about the psychological processes of pregnant women in different family structures. Aiming to fill this gap, the present study examined the prenatal maternal expectations (common cultural beliefs about what women can expect during the transition to motherhood) of women from lesbian ( n = 51), single ( n = 57), and heterosexual ( n = 893) parented families. The results suggest that maternal expectations differ by family structure. While single women reported relatively high levels of natural-fulfillment maternal expectations, women from lesbian parented families reported relatively low levels of these expectations. Single women reported the highest levels of sacrifice (a belief that parenting requires significant sacrifices from the self) and infant-reflects-mothering maternal expectations (a belief that the infant’s behavior reflects one’s maternal skills). These differences may reflect the different social pressures and personal challenges each group encounters in the process of deciding to become a mother and implementing the decision.

In an attempt to characterize men who pay women for sex (MPWS), theory and research generally divides men into two groups: men who pay for sex and those who never paid for sex. However, this dichotomy may lack sufficient detail to understand sex payment accurately, and with regard to attitudes toward paying for sex and frequency of sex payment. The present study set out to explore the associations between views toward MPWS; socio-demographic characteristics and frequency of paying for sex. A sample of 632 Israeli men, ages 18-75, were recruited via Facebook ads. Participants completed an anonymous, online questionnaire on their attitudes toward MPWS. Men who paid for sex once were more similar in their attitudes to men who did not pay for sex than to those who paid more than once. In addition, favorable views on MPWS predicted paying for sex only among men who paid for sex more than once, but not among men who paid for sex once. These findings may require new programmatic attention in public policy considerations and therapeutic strategies, taking into consideration both attitudes of men who pay for sex toward, and frequency of, this behavior.

BACKGROUND:Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) has been found to reduce viral acquisition among HIV-negative MSM. This cross-sectional study was conducted before pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) licensure in Israel, and aimed to compare men who have sex with men (MSM) who had heard of PrEP with those who had not, as well as MSM willing to take PrEP with those who were hesitant or not willing to take PrEP.METHODS:HIV-negative MSM responded anonymously to questionnaires in 2017 regarding their knowledge of and willingness to take PrEP, prior use of PrEP and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and their sexual behaviors.RESULTS:Among 1705 participants, 1431 (83.9%) had heard about PrEP. They were older and more often reported being Jewish, having an academic degree, self-identifying as gay/bisexual, being tested for HIV in the last year, participating in group sex, using alcohol or drugs before or during sex, and having prior use of PrEP/PEP compared with MSM who had not heard about PrEP. A total of 760 (44.8%) participants indicated that they would consider taking PrEP, 567 (33.5%) maybe would consider taking PrEP, and 367 (21.7%) would not take PrEP. Those who were willing to take PrEP had a lower level of education, were involved in high-risk sexual behaviors, used alcohol or drugs before or during sex, and had previously used PrEP/PEP compared with participants who maybe would consider taking or would not take PrEP. When participants were asked to indicate if they were willing to take PrEP at different potential efficacies and costs, the willingness to using PrEP increased with the potential efficacy of the drug and adversely related to its cost.CONCLUSIONS:PrEP awareness was high, and 44.8% indicated willingness to take PrEP, especially those who reported high-risk sexual behaviors. This supports the current policy in Israel to allow PrEP to MSM who are at high-risk. In order to maintain a high level of PrEP-adherence, physicians should consider structural barriers, such as negative stigma of being promiscuous, lack of perceived HIV-risk, difficulties in accessing clinics or paying for PrEP, inability to follow-up or low tolerability of the medication.

Research on commercial sexual exploitation (COMSE) of youth tends to focus on young females as victims, and much less is known about male and transgender commercially sexually exploited youth (COMSEY). Understanding the psychosocial background and past COMSE experiences among COMSEY is important to provide support for gender‐specific or gender‐inclusive interventions for COMSEY. The study included 57 cisgender females, 40 males and 23 transgender females who received services from a multi‐module programme for COMSEY in Israel. Case managers provided data on the youth regarding background characteristics, health variables and COMSE experiences prior to entering the service. The youth had similar rates in most psychosocial background characteristics, including being a victim of abuse. Cisgender females were less likely than cisgender males and transgender females to be from an ethnic minority and more likely to have been in out‐of‐home placement. Past experiences of COMSE were also similar between genders, though cisgender females were less involved in street prostitution and more likely to have been sexually abused during COMSE. The findings provide support for a gender‐inclusive approach to intervention with COMSEY and call for re‐consideration of present gender‐specific interventions in this domain. Further research on intervention with COMSEY is needed, specifically regarding male and transgender COMSEY.‘The study included 57 cisgender females, 40 males and 23 transgender females who received services from a multi‐module programme for COMSEY in Israel’Key Practitioner Messages Youth who sell or swap sex have troubled pasts, regardless of their gender. There are more similarities than differences in psychosocial backgrounds and past sexual exploitation experiences between cisgender females, cisgender males and transgender females. Empirical evidence to support the need for gender‐specific intervention was not demonstrated among these youth. Gender‐inclusive interventions may be an appropriate approach and will promote access to treatment for all commercially exploited youth.

Commercially sexually exploited youth and young adults (hereafter CSEY) are at high risk for various health adversities, but little is known about interventions that can improve their health outcomes. This study reports changes in health behaviours-positive health behaviours, drug use and risky sexual behaviour-in the first stages of treatment of 122 participants in a comprehensive multi-module program for CSEY in Israel. Data included sociodemographic and background information upon program entry, monthly reports on the treatment the participants received and their status. Data were collected monthly through online questionnaires completed by case managers for each of the CSEY in their care. A three-part analytic strategy assessed changes in repeated measures over time and their contributors. Latent class analysis helped identify differential trajectories of change over time among different participant groups. Findings showed overall significant decrease in risky sexual behaviours and improvement in positive health behaviours among certain CSEY groups. Participants with higher levels of health-risk situations and behaviour at program entry (e.g. more victimisation, less residential safety) were more likely to show improvement in health behaviours during intervention, but less likely to change their moderately risky sexual behaviours. Program participants with high levels of drug use did not show improvement in drug use patterns over time. This study demonstrates that a comprehensive multi-module intervention for CSEY can significantly improve health behaviour outcomes among serviced CSEY, and highlights the value of person-oriented care, and of research that can detect vulnerable subpopulations within CSEY who require uniquely tailored interventions. Personalising treatment to specific differential needs of CSEY, coupled with early detection and intervention, can improve program outcomes. Further research is needed to understand contributors to change and changes in subsequent health outcomes.