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IntroductionWe tested the association between the stress of COVID-19 and mental distress manifested by anxiety, depression, and stress, and whether well-being and resilience mediate the relationship between the two variables in a population of Palestinian adults. Namely, we hypothesized that stress of COVID-19 will be positively associated with mental health problems (anxiety, depression, and stress); well-being and resilience will be negatively associated with mental health problems (anxiety, depression, and stress); and well-being and resilience will mediate the association between the stress of COVID-19 and mental health problems (anxiety, depression, and stress).Material and methodsDepression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21, the Resilience Scale for Adults, the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, and the COVID-19 Stress Scales were administered to 860 participants via online survey. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to address the study hypothesis.ResultsParticipants recorded a mild level of stress of COVID-19 and high scores for resilience and well-being. A conceptual model depicting COVID‑19 stress as a predictor, mental distress as an outcome variable, and resilience and subjective well-being as mediators was confirmed.ConclusionsPalestinians are exposed to mental distress in an environment characterized by ongoing stressors. Conversely, the capability of Palestinians to conserve good levels of well-being and resilience protects them from mental distress even in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. On the other hand, COVID-19 can be considered a new critical event demanding and diminishing the people’s resiliency recourses in Palestine. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.

The main goal of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the COVID Stress Scales (CSS) in the Palestinian context and the factorial structure of the instrument. The CSS, a newly emerging internationally standardized measure of stress related to being exposed to or contracting COVID-19, was translated and validated for a Palestinian context to ensure that it can be used to measure COVID-19 stress. The sample of the study consisted of 860 Palestinian adults living in the West Bank of Palestine. Participants' age ranged from 20 to 48 years old (M = 34.7, SD =13.46). They were all recruited from online advertisements, e-mail campaigns, blogs, social media, and SMS campaigns. The CSS was found to be valid in the Arabic language within a Palestinian context. The confirmatory factor analysis yielded six factors: (1) Fears about the dangerousness of COVID-19, (2) fears about the personal social, and economic consequences of COVID-19, fears of disruption in the supply chain, fears of looting or rioting, (3) COVID-19-xenophobia, fears that foreigners are sources of COVID-19, (4) fears about sources of COVID-19-related contamination,(5) traumatic stress symptoms related to COVID-19, and (6) COVID-19-related checking which is consisting with the ordinal structure the scale. The CSS demonstrated a high level of validity and reliability in a Palestinian context and therefore can be considered for future studies as the COVID-19 pandemic persists. Further investigations using the Arabic Language of CSS may have far-reaching implications for measuring and combating the stress of COVID-19 at a personal and societal level for uniquely at-risk populations such as in the occupied territories of Palestine.

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The present work sought to examine the relationship between stress of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) disease, psychological trauma, and burnout, and whether subjective well-being (SWB), sense of coherence (SOC), and posttraumatic growth (PTG) mediated the relationship between the three constructs in a group of professional healthcare workers engaged on the frontline during the outbreak in Palestine. Results indicated that SWB, SOC, and PTG mediated the association between the stress of COVID, symptoms of trauma, and burnout. The psychological burdens of the ongoing military occupation have been exacerbated by the COVID outbreak, exposing health workers to additional stressors during their work and everyday life. However, a SOC associated with SWB and PTG might be a protective factor for trauma during the pandemic. Implications for health-care providers empowerment are discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementMental health in Palestine poses serious concerns at community and societal levels, as this is an ongoing crisis context where people are struggling for everyday survival. COVID-19 poses serious challenges to the health sector and the survival skills of health workers who operate amidst a traumatic reality. Our study helps to explore the role of COVID-19 as an antecedent of mental health and burnout among health workers living and operating in contexts of poverty and military violence during the pandemic. The more COVID-19 stress affects health workers, the more they can be exposed to trauma-related burdens, work exhaustion, and burnout. Living experiences in health workers reflect a traumatic reality, made of violence, individual, and collective threat where COVID played the role of an additional stressor. Active, self-motivated, and psychologically functioning health workers contribute to alleviating the suffering of Palestinians during COVID-19 but cannot remove antecedents and determinants of their suffering. aaa T he current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is associated with different changes and challenges in daily life on several life dimensions, whether medical, social, or economic (Peteet, 2020). People had to stop their jobs and have not been able to work (and earn money) from their home, as most governments around the world used isolation and quarantine, social distancing, and community containment as a tool since they are the classical public health measures to curb the epidemic (Pakpour & Griffiths, 2020;Wilder-Smith & Freedman, 2020). Also, the unstoppable spread of this pandemic, as by October 14, 2021, globally, there have been 239,007,759 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 446,294 of these cases with 4,547 deaths were detected in occupied This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.Guido Veronese https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9681-8883 We have no known conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Background In a geopolitically at-risk environment, such as Palestine, gender-based violence (GBV) is still a crucial problem rooted in discriminatory laws and traditional habits exacerbated by the ongoing Israeli military occupation. Moreover, the lack of updated data makes it difficult to grasp the magnitude of the phenomenon entirely; the purpose of the current study was to explore mental health professionals’ perceptions and concerns on GBV among Palestinian women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Participants in the study were 30 Mental Health Professionals (MHP) selected using convenience and snowball sampling techniques from among MHP in northern West Bank, Palestine. Results A thematic content analysis revealed seven main themes of GBV during the pandemic. Palestinian MHP reported that the increased number of GBV cases among women during the COVID-19, quarantine, physical distancing measures, and closure of non-essential services significantly heightened the risks of GBV among Palestinian women. Moreover, Palestinian women involved with or married to older men or married at a very young age were at risk of GBV more than others. Results of qualitative analysis also showed that Israeli occupation and the political violence characterizing the area for decades (including restriction of movement, house demolitions, separation of family members, etc.) have also exacerbated and increased GBV in the occupied Palestinian territories. Conclusions Improving intervention skills and supervision services among Palestinian MHP to help women who face GBV is recommended. Moreover, additional research should be conducted to explore the risk and potential factors of GBV, agency, and coping strategies to deal with GBV.