Fareeda Abo Rass (Sup.Prof.Perla Werner & Dr. Shiri Shinan- Altman)
Background
Dr. Abo-Rass is a social worker and researcher who completed her Ph.D. at the Department of Community Mental Health at the University of Haifa, Israel. Fareeda's field of research is psychosocial aspects of mental health among the Arab minority in Israel. In her Ph.D. research, Fareeda examined health-related quality of life, illness representations, self-stigma, and self-esteem among younger and older Israeli Arabs diagnosed with depression. During her Ph.D. studies, she was awarded the Council for Higher Education – Planning & Budgeting Committee Scholarship for outstanding Ph.D. students in Israel, and the Jewish-Arab Center in the University of Haifa Scholarship for outstanding female Arab students.
Fareeda completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Conflict Management & Resolution Program at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She examined sociocultural barriers and facilitators to mental health service use among the Arab minority in Israel. Dr. Abo-Rass was awarded the Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Israeli Council for Higher Education scholarship for outstanding postdoctoral female researchers. In January 2022, she will join Smith College, Massachusetts, as a research fellow. During her research fellowship, Fareeda intends to expand her research to the other minorities in the US to help develop interventions to increase access and quality of mental health care for communities of color.
Interests
Mental illnesses, psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery within minorities groups.
Mental health and Culture. Health-related Quality of Life. Mental health literacy. Depression.
Recent publications:
- Abo-Rass, F., Werner, P., & Shinan-Altman, S. (2021). Self-stigma formation process among younger and older Israeli Arabs diagnosed with depression. Aging and Mental 25(6), 1071-1076. Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2020.1758901
- Abo-Rass, F., Werner, P., & Shinan-Altman, S. (2021). Cognitive illness representations among Israeli Arabs diagnosed with depression and their relationship with health-related quality of life. International Journal of Social Psychiatry. https://doi-org.ezproxy.haifa.ac.il/10.1177/0020764021992406
- Khatib, A., & Abo-Rass, F. (2021). Mental health literacy among Arab university students in Israel: A qualitative study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry. https://doi-org.ezproxy.haifa.ac.il/10.1177/00207640211036167
- Abo-Rass, F., Shinan-Altman, S., & Werner, P. (2020). Health-related quality of life among Israeli Arabs diagnosed with depression: The role of illness representations, self-stigma, self-esteem, and age. Journal of Affective Disorders, 274, 282-288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.125
- Abo-Rass, F., Shinan-Altman, S., & Werner, P. (2020). Depression illness representations among Arabs in Israel: A qualitative study comparing younger and older adults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology. 35(4), 353-366. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-020-09413-9