יעל לבאות

yael levaot  (Sup. Dr. Talya Greene)

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Background

Yael has a BA in Education from the Hebrew University, and an MA in Early Childhood Studies from Ryerson University in Toronto. 

She works as a Director of a regional resilience center for the Arab society in the south of Israel. Yael is a graduate of the Home Front Command Officers' Civil Society Course and the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program, as an associate at "Social Services for Traumatized Youth" delegation.          

Current Research

Social media use and its relations with posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth following exposure to traumatic event.

Previous research on PTSD and media has mainly examined the frequency and content of traditional media exposure an individual has experienced and how this relates to the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, more extensive information on social media use and its psychological impact, media-related factors (images, videos, passive, active etc.) individual's demographic characteristics, as well as trauma history and type of trauma (man-made, natural hazard etc.), might affect how people integrate media into their experience.

Examining the associations between social media use following traumatic events with PTS and PTG will provide a much more detailed and nuanced examination of this new and potentially significant factor in mental health following trauma. The current research will enrich our knowledge regarding the important links between media use PTS and PTG; issues which are highly relevant at the beginning of the 21st century. Delineating how PTS and PTG are associated with media use variables among different populations in Israel could improve the efficiency of public health efforts following traumatic events.

Interests

Associations between Social Media use, PTSD and PTG.

Publications:

Yael Levaot, Mark Sinyor, Anthony Feinstein (2013) ,Trauma and Psychological Distress Observed in Journalists: A Comparison of Israeli Journalists and their Western Counterparts Israel Journal of Psychiatry; 50(2):118-21.

Levaot Y, Meiri G, Dinstein I, Menashe I, Shoham-Vardi I.(2018), Autism Prevalence and Severity in Bedouin-Arab and Jewish Communities in Southern Israel; Community Mental Health Journal.