Debbie Kaminer
Biographic Data
| ID | 250690 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Debbie Kaminer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Debbie |
| FAMILY NAME | Kaminer |
| SIGNATURE | KAMINER D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cape Town |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6097-6211 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 107 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Of College Students Who Engage in Non-Suicidal Self-injury Do Not Seek Treatment
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a high-risk behavior, yet much remains unknown about NSSI treatment utilization. The current study seeks to determine cross-national endorsement rates of NSSI and NSSI treatment utilization among college students. The present study uses baseline data from a survey study of 4,772 college students who completed a measure of NSSI recruited from the USA, Canada, Spain, South Africa, Argentina, and England. In total,…
South African university students’ use of mental health content on Instagram
Individualism, collectivism, and emotion regulation
Individualism and collectivism are dimensions of cultural variation thought to shape differences in emotion regulation tendencies, yet research to date has examined these cultural dimensions as country-level features, emphasizing variability across nations. The present study takes the approach of examining cultural differences within nations as predictors of emotion regulation strategies, shifting the perspective instead to individual differences…
Cross-national examination of the Distress Tolerance Scale using Rasch methodology
The 15-item Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) is a widely used psychometric measure with evidence generally supporting its reliability and validity. However, limitations related to its ordinal response format and lack of cross-cultural comparisons have yet to be investigated using appropriate methods. The Partial Credit Rasch model was used to evaluate and enhance the psychometric properties of the DTS using responses from 2550 adult participants fr…
Childhood bullying victimization, emotion regulation, rumination, distress tolerance, and depressive symptoms
Existing research suggests a robust association between childhood bullying victimization and depressive symptoms in adulthood, but less is known about potential mediators of this link. Furthermore, there is limited cross‐national research evaluating similarities and differences in bullying victimization and its associations with mental health. The current study addressed gaps in the literature by evaluating cognitive and affective responses to st…
The role of oxytocin receptor gene variants in appetitive aggression
Chronic exposure to trauma and violence can promote aggressive behavior. Oxytocin and variants in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene may play a role in the etiology of proactive, that is, goal‐oriented instrumental aggression, or reactive aggression, which typically occurs in response to emotionally triggering situations. The current study builds on previous findings that experienced and witnessed trauma in childhood predicts higher levels of appe…
Utility of the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire to Identify College Students At-Risk for Alcohol Related Problems
Background: It is important to identify students who would benefit from early interventions to reduce harmful drinking patterns and associated consequences. the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (B-YAACQ) could be particularly useful as a screening tool in university settings. Objectives. The present study examined the utility of the B-YAACQ to distinguish among students at-risk for problematic alcohol use as measured by the AU…
Adverse childhood experiences and adulthood mental health
Client and counsellor experiences of abbreviated trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy for South African adolescents
Although South Africa has high rates of child and adolescent trauma exposure and associated mental health difficulties, there is a poor evidence base for trauma interventions with youth in this setting. In a resource-constrained context, there is a need for brief evidence-based trauma treatments. However, abbreviated interventions may reduce the acceptability and tolerability of treatment for clients and impact treatment delivery by providers. We…
Sex
The United States Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Altitude Express v. Zarda, a case that addresses whether Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination “on the basis of sex” prohibits sexual orientation discrimination. Relying on three related lines of reasoning, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had held that it did. First, sexual orientation discrimination would not have occurred “but for” the employee’s sex;…
Young people’s discursive constructions of fatherhood in South Africa
The voices of young people remain, for the most part, under-considered within research on South African fathers. The present study relies on photo-elicitation interviews to explore how isiXhosa-speaking adolescents construct fathering roles and responsibilities in South Africa. Using discursive psychology, it was found that participants drew on the ‘Essential Fathering’ and ‘Social Fathering’ discourses to construct South African fatherhood. The …
Representation of low and middle income countries in traumatic stress journals from 2006 to 2015
Although the majority of trauma survivors reside in low and middle income countries, these regions have historically been poorly represented in traumatic stress research. However, a recent review of geographic representation within traumatic stress journals is lacking. This study reviewed all articles published between 2006 and 2015 in six leading traumatic stress journals. When articles ( n = 2530) were categorised by region, less than one tenth…
Young people's reproductions of the 'father as provider' discourse
Despite a plurality of paternal forms available to men, certain enactments of fathering remain immobile. In South Africa the 'father as provider' discourse, which establishes the legitimate father as one who provides financially for his family, continues to be regarded as the primary mark of a good father. Using photo-elicitation interviews to interrogate the persistence of this discourse, this paper examines how adolescents from two low-resource…
Continuous traumatic stress as a mental and physical health challenge
This article discusses the condition of continuous traumatic stress as common on the African continent and in other international settings characterised by very high levels of ongoing violence and threat of community, political or war-related origin. Through consideration of three case studies from South Africa, contexts of continuous traumatic stress are described, and the mental health and physical health effects of living in such contexts are …
Religious Accommodation in the American Workplace
This article examines how the us Supreme Court’s decision in eeoc v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc. represents a shift in the Court’s analysis in religious accommodation cases under §701(j) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a result of this decision lower courts are now likely to provide greater protection to employees requesting accommodation under §701(j) for two reasons. First, Abercrombie held that an employer can be liable for religious …
Interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder
Given high rates of trauma exposure in South Africa, mental health practitioners often need to deliver interventions to trauma survivors. While there have been few local trauma intervention studies, there is an extensive international evidence base that provides a rich resource on which to draw. This article reviews evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder. The current weight of evidenc…
Systematic review of the evidence base for treatment of common mental disorders in South Africa
The scarcity of mental health resources in low- and middle-income countries requires the identification of effective interventions that can be taken to scale in a cost-efficient manner. Yet the evidence base for treatment of common mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries remains limited. As one of the better resourced countries on the African continent, South Africa could potentially play a leading role in developing an African evide…
Feasibility and effectiveness of narrative exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy in a context of ongoing violence in South Africa
The study shows that trauma-focused treatment can reduce the psychological symptoms of posttraumatic stress even for individuals living under unsafe conditions in low-income urban communities. However, achieving changes in violent behavior within a context of ongoing violence may require more than the treatment of trauma-related suffering, confrontation with one's offenses, or cognitive-behavioral interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record
Traumatic stress
Traumatic stress studies is a well-established, vibrant and ever-growing cross-disciplinary area of research and practice to which psychologists have made a substantial contribution. This article presents an overview of the field, acknowledging the close relationship between the study of post-traumatic stress disorder more specifically and the field of traumatic stress studies in general. The authors focus on four key dimensions: historical and c…
Exposure to violence across multiple sites among young South African adolescents
Appetitive aggression and adaptation to a violent environment among youth offenders
Previous research has demonstrated that those who perpetrate violence and report aggression to be appetitive are less vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study examined the hypothesis that, among youth offenders living in a high-violence community, an attraction to violence is associated with improved psychosocial functioning and less concern about future threats. A sample of 69 male youth offenders living i…
Continuous traumatic stress
Continuous traumatic stress
Despite substantial theoretical and empirical advances in the field of traumatic stress since the introduction of the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) into the mental health nomenclature, existing conceptualizations of traumatic stress retain the assumption that traumatic experiences have occurred in the past. We propose continuous traumatic stress (CTS) as a supplementary construct within the lexicon of traumatic stress, to desc…
Photovoice as Community Engaged Research
This article aims to describe Photovoice as a method and process of enacting community engaged research. The multi-dimensional nature of Photovoice is illustrated though a case application, focused on safety promotion in two South African low-income communities. Twenty youth, evenly distributed by gender and ranging in age from 13 to 15 years, were conveniently engaged as participants in the case application. In positioning ourselves as critical …
The Use of Concept Mapping in Engaging Women to Identify the Factors that Influence Violence
This study used concept mapping to characterise the factors influencing violence as perceived by a sample of women community dwellers. Participants were 50 women (aged between 18 and 65 years) living in a high violence area of a major South African city. Data were collected over three meetings in two groups, at which participants identified, rated and categorised factors influencing violence in their community. Participants also discussed the way…
Continuous traumatic stress
Despite substantial theoretical and empirical advances in the field of traumatic stress since the introduction of the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) into the mental health nomenclature, existing conceptualizations of traumatic stress retain the assumption that traumatic experiences have occurred in the past. We propose continuous traumatic stress (CTS) as a supplementary construct within the lexicon of traumatic stress, to desc…
Risk for post-traumatic stress disorder associated with different forms of interpersonal violence in South Africa
Young people's reproductions of the 'father as provider' discourse
Despite a plurality of paternal forms available to men, certain enactments of fathering remain immobile. In South Africa the 'father as provider' discourse, which establishes the legitimate father as one who provides financially for his family, continues to be regarded as the primary mark of a good father. Using photo-elicitation interviews to interrogate the persistence of this discourse, this paper examines how adolescents from two low-resource…
Continuous traumatic stress
Exposure to violence across multiple sites among young South African adolescents
Young people’s discursive constructions of fatherhood in South Africa
The voices of young people remain, for the most part, under-considered within research on South African fathers. The present study relies on photo-elicitation interviews to explore how isiXhosa-speaking adolescents construct fathering roles and responsibilities in South Africa. Using discursive psychology, it was found that participants drew on the ‘Essential Fathering’ and ‘Social Fathering’ discourses to construct South African fatherhood. The …
The Contributions of Political Life Events to Psychological Distress Among South African
The psychological consequences of adverse political experiences among South African youth were studied in a sample of 540 black and white adolescents from two age groups, evenly divided by gender. Three questionnaires were administered, measuring exposure to political life events, the presence of symptoms of psychopathology, and stressful personal life events during the previous 5 years. The first hypothesis, predicting a substantial contribution…
The Reproduction of Masculinity
Groups of male ex-university students' discourse about drinking was examined to identify the interpretative repertoires that they used to construct real-seeming versions of masculinity. Two repertoires were identified: An essentialist account and a normative masculinity account. These repertoires, though riven with contradictions, were deployed to construct stable and universal gender differences and to marginalize ‘deviant’ masculinities. Their …
Continuous traumatic stress as a mental and physical health challenge
This article discusses the condition of continuous traumatic stress as common on the African continent and in other international settings characterised by very high levels of ongoing violence and threat of community, political or war-related origin. Through consideration of three case studies from South Africa, contexts of continuous traumatic stress are described, and the mental health and physical health effects of living in such contexts are …
Traumatic stress
Traumatic stress studies is a well-established, vibrant and ever-growing cross-disciplinary area of research and practice to which psychologists have made a substantial contribution. This article presents an overview of the field, acknowledging the close relationship between the study of post-traumatic stress disorder more specifically and the field of traumatic stress studies in general. The authors focus on four key dimensions: historical and c…
Appetitive aggression and adaptation to a violent environment among youth offenders
Previous research has demonstrated that those who perpetrate violence and report aggression to be appetitive are less vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study examined the hypothesis that, among youth offenders living in a high-violence community, an attraction to violence is associated with improved psychosocial functioning and less concern about future threats. A sample of 69 male youth offenders living i…
Childhood bullying victimization, emotion regulation, rumination, distress tolerance, and depressive symptoms
Existing research suggests a robust association between childhood bullying victimization and depressive symptoms in adulthood, but less is known about potential mediators of this link. Furthermore, there is limited cross‐national research evaluating similarities and differences in bullying victimization and its associations with mental health. The current study addressed gaps in the literature by evaluating cognitive and affective responses to st…
Representation of low and middle income countries in traumatic stress journals from 2006 to 2015
Although the majority of trauma survivors reside in low and middle income countries, these regions have historically been poorly represented in traumatic stress research. However, a recent review of geographic representation within traumatic stress journals is lacking. This study reviewed all articles published between 2006 and 2015 in six leading traumatic stress journals. When articles ( n = 2530) were categorised by region, less than one tenth…
Forgiveness Attitudes of Truth Commission Deponents
In the aftermath of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, anecdotal claims that the Truth Commission panel may have encouraged or coerced deponents to forgive perpetrators of human rights abuses have not yet been systematically investigated. This exploratory study examined whether the current forgiveness attitudes of deponents are associated with the response that they received from the Truth Commission panel at public hearings. …
The Reproduction of Masculinity
Groups of male ex-university students' discourse about drinking was examined to identify the interpretative repertoires that they used to construct real-seeming versions of masculinity. Two repertoires were identified: An essentialist account and a normative masculinity account. These repertoires, though riven with contradictions, were deployed to construct stable and universal gender differences and to marginalize ‘deviant’ masculinities. Their …
The Contributions of Political Life Events to Psychological Distress Among South African
The psychological consequences of adverse political experiences among South African youth were studied in a sample of 540 black and white adolescents from two age groups, evenly divided by gender. Three questionnaires were administered, measuring exposure to political life events, the presence of symptoms of psychopathology, and stressful personal life events during the previous 5 years. The first hypothesis, predicting a substantial contribution…
Healing Processes in Trauma Narratives
Re-tellings of the trauma story are a standard component of most current therapeutic interventions with trauma survivors. However, the exact therapeutic processes whereby trauma narratives may facilitate change are not always clearly explicated in the literature. In order to identify these processes, a review was conducted of the published literature on those psychotherapeutic interventions for trauma that centralise the role of the trauma narrat…
Forgiveness Attitudes of Truth Commission Deponents
In the aftermath of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, anecdotal claims that the Truth Commission panel may have encouraged or coerced deponents to forgive perpetrators of human rights abuses have not yet been systematically investigated. This exploratory study examined whether the current forgiveness attitudes of deponents are associated with the response that they received from the Truth Commission panel at public hearings. …
Risk for post-traumatic stress disorder associated with different forms of interpersonal violence in South Africa
Photovoice as Community Engaged Research
This article aims to describe Photovoice as a method and process of enacting community engaged research. The multi-dimensional nature of Photovoice is illustrated though a case application, focused on safety promotion in two South African low-income communities. Twenty youth, evenly distributed by gender and ranging in age from 13 to 15 years, were conveniently engaged as participants in the case application. In positioning ourselves as critical …
The Use of Concept Mapping in Engaging Women to Identify the Factors that Influence Violence
This study used concept mapping to characterise the factors influencing violence as perceived by a sample of women community dwellers. Participants were 50 women (aged between 18 and 65 years) living in a high violence area of a major South African city. Data were collected over three meetings in two groups, at which participants identified, rated and categorised factors influencing violence in their community. Participants also discussed the way…
Exposure to violence across multiple sites among young South African adolescents
Appetitive aggression and adaptation to a violent environment among youth offenders
Previous research has demonstrated that those who perpetrate violence and report aggression to be appetitive are less vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study examined the hypothesis that, among youth offenders living in a high-violence community, an attraction to violence is associated with improved psychosocial functioning and less concern about future threats. A sample of 69 male youth offenders living i…
Continuous traumatic stress
Continuous traumatic stress
Despite substantial theoretical and empirical advances in the field of traumatic stress since the introduction of the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) into the mental health nomenclature, existing conceptualizations of traumatic stress retain the assumption that traumatic experiences have occurred in the past. We propose continuous traumatic stress (CTS) as a supplementary construct within the lexicon of traumatic stress, to desc…
Traumatic stress
Traumatic stress studies is a well-established, vibrant and ever-growing cross-disciplinary area of research and practice to which psychologists have made a substantial contribution. This article presents an overview of the field, acknowledging the close relationship between the study of post-traumatic stress disorder more specifically and the field of traumatic stress studies in general. The authors focus on four key dimensions: historical and c…
Feasibility and effectiveness of narrative exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy in a context of ongoing violence in South Africa
The study shows that trauma-focused treatment can reduce the psychological symptoms of posttraumatic stress even for individuals living under unsafe conditions in low-income urban communities. However, achieving changes in violent behavior within a context of ongoing violence may require more than the treatment of trauma-related suffering, confrontation with one's offenses, or cognitive-behavioral interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record
Religious Accommodation in the American Workplace
This article examines how the us Supreme Court’s decision in eeoc v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc. represents a shift in the Court’s analysis in religious accommodation cases under §701(j) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a result of this decision lower courts are now likely to provide greater protection to employees requesting accommodation under §701(j) for two reasons. First, Abercrombie held that an employer can be liable for religious …
Interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder
Given high rates of trauma exposure in South Africa, mental health practitioners often need to deliver interventions to trauma survivors. While there have been few local trauma intervention studies, there is an extensive international evidence base that provides a rich resource on which to draw. This article reviews evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder. The current weight of evidenc…
Systematic review of the evidence base for treatment of common mental disorders in South Africa
The scarcity of mental health resources in low- and middle-income countries requires the identification of effective interventions that can be taken to scale in a cost-efficient manner. Yet the evidence base for treatment of common mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries remains limited. As one of the better resourced countries on the African continent, South Africa could potentially play a leading role in developing an African evide…
Continuous traumatic stress as a mental and physical health challenge
This article discusses the condition of continuous traumatic stress as common on the African continent and in other international settings characterised by very high levels of ongoing violence and threat of community, political or war-related origin. Through consideration of three case studies from South Africa, contexts of continuous traumatic stress are described, and the mental health and physical health effects of living in such contexts are …
Representation of low and middle income countries in traumatic stress journals from 2006 to 2015
Although the majority of trauma survivors reside in low and middle income countries, these regions have historically been poorly represented in traumatic stress research. However, a recent review of geographic representation within traumatic stress journals is lacking. This study reviewed all articles published between 2006 and 2015 in six leading traumatic stress journals. When articles ( n = 2530) were categorised by region, less than one tenth…
Young people's reproductions of the 'father as provider' discourse
Despite a plurality of paternal forms available to men, certain enactments of fathering remain immobile. In South Africa the 'father as provider' discourse, which establishes the legitimate father as one who provides financially for his family, continues to be regarded as the primary mark of a good father. Using photo-elicitation interviews to interrogate the persistence of this discourse, this paper examines how adolescents from two low-resource…
Sex
The United States Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Altitude Express v. Zarda, a case that addresses whether Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination “on the basis of sex” prohibits sexual orientation discrimination. Relying on three related lines of reasoning, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had held that it did. First, sexual orientation discrimination would not have occurred “but for” the employee’s sex;…
Young people’s discursive constructions of fatherhood in South Africa
The voices of young people remain, for the most part, under-considered within research on South African fathers. The present study relies on photo-elicitation interviews to explore how isiXhosa-speaking adolescents construct fathering roles and responsibilities in South Africa. Using discursive psychology, it was found that participants drew on the ‘Essential Fathering’ and ‘Social Fathering’ discourses to construct South African fatherhood. The …
Client and counsellor experiences of abbreviated trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy for South African adolescents
Although South Africa has high rates of child and adolescent trauma exposure and associated mental health difficulties, there is a poor evidence base for trauma interventions with youth in this setting. In a resource-constrained context, there is a need for brief evidence-based trauma treatments. However, abbreviated interventions may reduce the acceptability and tolerability of treatment for clients and impact treatment delivery by providers. We…
Utility of the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire to Identify College Students At-Risk for Alcohol Related Problems
Background: It is important to identify students who would benefit from early interventions to reduce harmful drinking patterns and associated consequences. the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (B-YAACQ) could be particularly useful as a screening tool in university settings. Objectives. The present study examined the utility of the B-YAACQ to distinguish among students at-risk for problematic alcohol use as measured by the AU…
Adverse childhood experiences and adulthood mental health
South African university students’ use of mental health content on Instagram
Psychology (26 works) · Clinical Psychology (15 works) · Psychiatry (14 works) · Medicine (13 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (10 works) · Clinical Psychology (9 works) · Developmental psychology (9 works) · Mental health (9 works) · Political science (9 works)