At the Psycho-Cardiology Research Lab at Bar- Ilan University, we study how patients and partners cope with cardiac illnesses.
Ethnicity Coping with Cardiac illness
Israel’s population at the end of 2017 numbered approximately eight million people, 75% of whom were Jews. The rest were mostly Arab citizens: Muslims (82.4%), Christians (9.6%), and Druze (8.0%). Overall, the Arab minority is much less educated than the Jewish majority, and characterized by lower employment rates and by a lower socioeconomic status. The Arab minority is also less adherent to lifestyle modifications post-cardiovascular-event, and indeed the rates of cardiac mortality and morbidity among this sector are higher than in the Jewish majority.
Though many studies have documented this gap in Israel, much less research has been devoted to exploring the mechanisms that might explain the differences between Arab and Jewish cardiac patients' motivation to engage in cardiac rehabilitative behaviors.
Two of the lab's doctoral dissertations were therefore dedicated to deciphering the underlying mechanisms behind the gap between Arabs and Jews in Israel with regard to cardiac illness.
PUBLICATIONS:
Reges, O., Vilchinsky, N., Leibowitz, M., Manor, D., Mosseri, M. & Kark, G., (2011). Perceptions of cause of illness in Acute Myocardial Infarction patients: A longitudinal study. Patients Education and Counselling, 85, 155–161. DOI:10.1016/j.pec.2010.12.022
Reges, O., Vilchinsky, N., Leibowitz, M., Khaskia, A., Mosseri, M. & Kark, G. (2012). Arab-Jewish differences in attending cardiac rehabilitation programs following acute coronary syndrome. International Journal of Cardiology, 163, 218-219.
Reges, O., Vilchinsky, N., Leibowitz, M., Khaskia, A., Mosseri, M., & Kark, G. (2013). Illness cognition as a predictor of exercise habits and participation in cardiac prevention and rehabilitation programs after acute coronary syndrome. BMC Public Health, 13, 956.
Reges, O., Vilchinsky, N., Kark, G., Leibowitz, M., Khaskia, A., & Mosseri, M. (2013). Systemic determinants as barriers to participation in cardiac prevention and rehabilitation services after Acute Coronary Syndrome. International Journal of Cardiology, 168, 4865.
Reges, O., Vilchinsky, N., Kark, G., Leibowitz, M., Khaskia, A., & Mosseri, M. (2014). Change in health behaviors following acute coronary syndrome: Arab-Jewish differences. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Reges, O., Vilchinsky, N., Kark, J., Leibowitz, M., Khaskia, A., & Mosseri, M. (2014). Identifying barriers to participation in cardiac prevention and rehabilitation programs via decision tree analysis: Pinpointing the most in-need populations for intervention. BMJ: OpenHeart. 1:e000097.doi:10.1136/openhrt-2014-000097.
Vilchinsky, N., Soskolne, V., Taha-Fahum, A., Jeries, S. (2016). Dynamics of culture and health: Perceived behavioral control and differences in smoking behavior between Arab and Jewish cardiac patients in Israel, Journal of Socialomics, 5, 2-7. DOI: 10.4172/2167-0358.1000146.
Dr. Orna Reges
Co-supervisor: Prof. Jeremy Kark, School of Public Health, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Co-supervisor: Prof. Varda Soskolne, School of Social work, Bar-Ilan University.
Co-supervisor: Prof. Rachel Lev-Ari, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan
THE PSYCHO-CARDIOLOGY RESEARCH LAB
Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel