It's not only cultural differences: Comparison of Jewish Israeli social work students’ thoughts and feelings about treating Jewish Ultra-Orthodox and Palestinian Israeli clients

In an effort to examine the impact of violent political conflict on clinicians, the study compared the feelings and thoughts evoked in 78 Jewish Israeli social work trainees at the prospect of treating an Arab Israeli client1 and a Jewish Ultra-Orthodox client. Both clients represented groups that are very different culturally from most Jewish Israeli social workers; but only the Arab would have been associated with a group with whom the country is in violent political conflict. The findings, based on a quantitative analysis of the students’ written statements, show that they felt more fear, threat, and tension at the prospect of treating the Arab client, and were more inclined to express guilt feelings and less inclined to express empathy towards him. They also expressed concern that the Israeli–Palestinian conflict would impact negatively on their therapeutic encounter.