Bethlehem University Journal

Publisher:: Pluto Journals
Publication date:: 2023-03-02

ISBN:: 2410-5449

Description:

Bethlehem University Journal is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published annually by the Office of the Dean of Research at Bethlehem University.

Issue Number

Latest documents

The relationship between maternal personal growth during pregnancy and infant neurodevelopment
Optimal adaptation to changes that occur during pregnancy is essential to prevent possible negative effects on maternal psychological health (such as stress or postpartum depression). In fact, an adequate adaptation to the new life situation has implications on the subsequent offspring´s development. Thus, the objective of the present study was to investigate the potential association between levels of personal growth and maternal age during pregnancy with the subsequent cognitive and motor neurodevelopment of the offspring at 6 months of age. Twenty-three pregnant women participated in this longitudinal study. The participants were assessed during the three trimesters of pregnancy using the Ryff Psychological Well-being Scale (Ryff, 1989). The neonates´ neurodevelopment was assessed using the BSID-III at 6 months of age. A multiple linear regression analysis was carried out using maternal growth during pregnancy and gestational age as independent variables, and the levels of cognitive and motor neurodevelopment of the babies at 6 months of age as dependent variables. The results showed that personal growth during pregnancy predicted cognitive neurodevelopment. Personal growth was also positively related with the scalar score of the fine motor subscale. Findings from this study suggest that maternal personal growth during pregnancy is a predictor of the later infants´ neurodevelopment at 6 months of age.
Exploring the relationship between mental health and neuropsychological functioning in female survivors of IPV
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) refers to a series of physical, psychological, and/or sexual abuses exercised over another individual during an intimate relationship. Several mental health difficulties have been reported related to IPV, and recently neuropsychological alterations have been also described in this population. This study has three aims: first, to explore the existence of mental health-based groups in women with and without a history of IPV; second, to establish whether belonging to the IPV group is related to having a poorer mental health and finally, to establish if women with mental health has a lower neuropsychological functioning. Fourteen female survivors of physical and psychological IPV, and 14 matched control women (CG) were assessed for their mental health and neuropsychological functions. A mental health protocol was used to evaluate the variables of anxiety, depression, and perception of stress. In addition, a protocol of neuropsychological tests evaluated alternating attention, long-term memory, abstract thinking, learning, and interference control. Results showed that (1) participants were grouped into two clusters: better mental health and poorer mental health. The main grouping variable was anxiety. (2) Women with a history of IPV had poorer mental health, and (3) women with poorer mental health had lower attentional ability, long-term memory, abstract thinking and working memory. These findings show the importance of assessing anxiety, which is one of the predictors of mental health problems in victims of IPV. Furthermore, it is important to protocolize a form of assessment including neuropsychological variables.
Mahmoud Darwish: The Politics of Mourning and Catastrophe
This article examines the ways in which Mahmoud Darwish's contrapuntal notion of memory, catastrophe, and mourning exhibit an aesthetic of freedom, intransigence and resistance. Darwish's intellectual and aesthetic project is primarily premised upon the pleasures and pitfalls of memory and catastrophe as a site of spatial and cultural resistance. For Darwish, memory and catastrophe are not only about the absence and presence of geography and home, but they are also metaphorical in every way. In The Presence of Absence (2011), Darwish argues that metaphors form a peculiar mode of geography and space. Drawing on Edward Said's notion of late style and Judith Butler's argument on the politics of mourning, this article sets out to examine the ways in which Darwish's Memory for Forgetfulness and In the Presence of Absence embody a radical form of aesthetic and intellectual praxis, writing against the grain and the politics of mourning.
Nursing Students' Perceptions of Peer Evaluation in Group Work at Bethlehem University, Palestine
This study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of peer evaluation (PE) in group work (GW) among nursing students at the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Bethlehem University, Palestine in spring 2016. While previous studies have examined the importance of PE in GW in a variety of disciplines in higher education, researchers have not paid much attention to PE in the assessment of nursing students in Palestine. A qualitative approach was used on a sample population of third- and fourth-year nursing students (n = 70) at Bethlehem University who had participated in PE in previous courses at least three times. Results revealed that participation in GW promoted the students' leadership skills, team spirit, self-confidence, and respect for others, while significantly contributing to their professional growth. The results also highlighted challenges to GW such as distributing assignments to groups and providing clear specifications for the group leader's role. Results also showed that the main challenges facing PE were the lack of objectivity, fairness, anonymity, and clear evaluation criteria, as well as the limited items in the evaluation forms. The study recommended the development of a faculty handbook containing guidelines for GW and PE, conducting training sessions for students, and encouraging all faculty members to use GW and PE routinely in their teaching practices.
Editorial Board
The Politics of Monologist Representation
This article proffers a deconstructionist reading of the dramatic monologue and examines its rhetorical strategies and the politics of monologic representation, by which the first-person speaker/monologist monopolizes discursive space and over-represents himself, while silencing other voices in the text and refusing them the freedom and space to express themselves. Through a close analysis of monologist representation of the Other in various texts, including “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, “Devonshire Street W. 1” by John Betjeman, as well as Ron Carlson’s short story “Bigfoot Stole My Wife” (albeit a dramatic monologue in prose), this article seeks to expose the ways in which the poetic persona is always partial, interested, and subjective, with not-so-subtle an agenda, a speaker who passes value judgments on the human objects of his overbearing tone. By examining the politics of monologist representation against both Aristotelian ethos and Bakhtinian intonation, the article suggests that readers and critics can give voice to the voiceless in this elastic genre and abandon their sympathetic interpretations that practically absolve monologists of any bias towards their absent enemies or any politics of representation.
كلمة التحرير: تحديات أداء البحث )العلمي( ووعود المنصات المفتوحة الوصول
Editorial Statement: The challenge of research performance and the promises of open access (OA)
دراسة تقويمية للمعوّّوقات التي تواجه برامج التّّتربية العمليّّية لمعلم المجال في كلية التربية في جامعة بيت لحم ومقترحات لتطويرها من وجهة نظر الطلبة والمعلمين المرشدين
This study aimed to evaluate the obstacles facing the practicum program of subject area teacher at the Faculty of Education, Bethlehem University and to find ways for improvement from the perspective of student-teachers and school mentors. The study sample consisted of 92 mentors, 124 students in 2017/2018. A descriptive analytic approach was used based on two questionnaires. The results showed that the most problematic area for the senior students is related to the assessment tools and school visits and that second, third and fourth year students agreed with mentors that the most problematic area was “awareness of the importance and purpose of the practicum,” and the need for introducing students to learning resources. The findings also revealed that the most common obstacles relating to “initial school experience” was connected with the recognition of the duties of the principal, teacher, supervisor, and various school committees. Results also showed that students regarded the location of practicum schools and the cost of transportation as most problematic, while mentors considered overcrowding in classes, lack of cooperation, and the focus on certain schools to be most problematic. However, both mentors and students agreed about the need for varying mentors and schools and for considering the students' residence (in the choice of training school). Results also showed that there was a statistically significant difference only in the first hypothesis related to the mentors due to gender in favor of females, and in the fourth hypothesis related to the students in favor of the second year. There was no statistical difference regarding the second and third hypotheses relating to both mentors and students. Based on the findings, the study recommended developing the structure and materials of the practicum courses, and taking students' needs into consideration.
Front Matter