Pub Date : 2023-12-28DOI: 10.1186/s43045-023-00385-3
Enas R. Mohamed, Rania M. Abou-Hashim, Heba Shaltoot
It is important to understand and identify the physical and emotional strain among caregivers of the elderly as caregivers may have much more strain and burden than non-caregivers, which subsequently may affect their well-being and the clinical outcome of the elderly they are caring for. To assess caregiver stress and its effect on hospital outcomes at the geriatric department in Ain Shams University Hospitals, a cross-sectional study was done that included adults, aged ≥ 60 years, hospitalized for treatment of acute medical conditions and their accompanied caregivers where the patients were subjected to complete comprehensive geriatric assessment while cares givers’ stress was assessed using Caregiver Self-Assessment Questionnaire. Many elderly were found to need caregivers and the need increased with age as well as multiple comorbidities especially dementia, delirium, and urinary incontinence. Stress prevalence among caregivers is high (85%) and it increases with the age of the patients and the patient having several comorbidities such as cancer, neurological diseases, and sleep problems. Stress was also associated with high mortality of patients. As there is an increase in the elderly population with a subsequent increase in the need for caregivers who suffer from caregiver stress, more studies are needed in the future to highlight this problem and find ways to relieve caregivers’ stress.
{"title":"Assessment of stress in caregivers of acutely hospitalized elderly and its relation to hospital outcomes","authors":"Enas R. Mohamed, Rania M. Abou-Hashim, Heba Shaltoot","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00385-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00385-3","url":null,"abstract":"It is important to understand and identify the physical and emotional strain among caregivers of the elderly as caregivers may have much more strain and burden than non-caregivers, which subsequently may affect their well-being and the clinical outcome of the elderly they are caring for. To assess caregiver stress and its effect on hospital outcomes at the geriatric department in Ain Shams University Hospitals, a cross-sectional study was done that included adults, aged ≥ 60 years, hospitalized for treatment of acute medical conditions and their accompanied caregivers where the patients were subjected to complete comprehensive geriatric assessment while cares givers’ stress was assessed using Caregiver Self-Assessment Questionnaire. Many elderly were found to need caregivers and the need increased with age as well as multiple comorbidities especially dementia, delirium, and urinary incontinence. Stress prevalence among caregivers is high (85%) and it increases with the age of the patients and the patient having several comorbidities such as cancer, neurological diseases, and sleep problems. Stress was also associated with high mortality of patients. As there is an increase in the elderly population with a subsequent increase in the need for caregivers who suffer from caregiver stress, more studies are needed in the future to highlight this problem and find ways to relieve caregivers’ stress.","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139057241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-27DOI: 10.1186/s43045-023-00376-4
Walaa Sabry, Maged Bhai El Dien, Ahmed Ibrahim Zakie Elsherbiny, Zeinab Mohamed El Nagar
The infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to the emergence of a novel diagnostic entity known as “post-COVID syndrome” (PCS). It is characterized by a constellation of medical and psychiatric symptoms that occur and persist for variable duration following the COVID infection. Among these post-COVID psychiatric symptoms are depressive and anxiety disorders, which were found to be the highest prevalence in the post-COVID period. The frequency and severity of post-COVID symptoms are correlated with the severity of the infection. Many inflammatory and coagulation markers have been involved in the severity of post-COVID symptoms and hence the development of post-COVID psychiatric symptoms/disorders. Limited research has been conducted to examine the psychological challenges experienced by individuals in the early stages of post-COVID recovery in Egypt, specifically within a timeframe of 1 to 3 months. The current study aims to estimate the occurrence rate of early post-COVID psychiatric symptoms/disorders such as depression and anxiety and to detect its association with clinical and severity parameters of COVID-19 infection. The current study was a comparative cross-sectional approach, from the chest department’s “post-COVID-19 follow-up” outpatient clinic at Kobri ElKoba Medical Complex in Cairo, Egypt. A convenient sample of adult Egyptian patients were recruited between October 2021 and June 2022. They were subjected to the following: a pre-designed questionnaire to collect the patients’ demographic characteristics, Arabic version of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to identify potential cases, Arabic version of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID I) Clinician Version (SCID-CV) and retrieval of essential related clinical and laboratory data like C-reactive protein (CRP), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII): (neutrophils × platelets)/lymphocytes), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and D-dimer and COVID-19 treatment lines together with a liker scale questionnaire to assess the severity of COVID-19 infection. Depression was found to be the most prevalent psychiatric disorder (45.6%) among the study participants, followed by generalized anxiety disorder (42.1%). Subthreshold GAD and depression were found in 17.5% and 14% of patients respectively. COVID was a major predictor of GAD (p 0.000), while being on antibiotics (p = 0.033), having cardiac illnesses (p = 0.007), and an increased D dimer (p = 0.022) were the most predictive factors for depression. COVID-19 infection has demonstrated an increased risk of mental health problems in multiple domains. It was evident that depression was the most presenting psychiatric illness among the studied sample (45.6%), while generalized anxiety disorder was the second most prevalent disorder (42.1%). And suicide was found in 9.6% of the study sample. It is worth noting that our results displayed a high prevalence of subthreshold psychiatric symptom
{"title":"Early post-COVID-19 common psychiatric complications: role of basic inflammatory, coagulation, and clinical risk factors","authors":"Walaa Sabry, Maged Bhai El Dien, Ahmed Ibrahim Zakie Elsherbiny, Zeinab Mohamed El Nagar","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00376-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00376-4","url":null,"abstract":"The infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to the emergence of a novel diagnostic entity known as “post-COVID syndrome” (PCS). It is characterized by a constellation of medical and psychiatric symptoms that occur and persist for variable duration following the COVID infection. Among these post-COVID psychiatric symptoms are depressive and anxiety disorders, which were found to be the highest prevalence in the post-COVID period. The frequency and severity of post-COVID symptoms are correlated with the severity of the infection. Many inflammatory and coagulation markers have been involved in the severity of post-COVID symptoms and hence the development of post-COVID psychiatric symptoms/disorders. Limited research has been conducted to examine the psychological challenges experienced by individuals in the early stages of post-COVID recovery in Egypt, specifically within a timeframe of 1 to 3 months. The current study aims to estimate the occurrence rate of early post-COVID psychiatric symptoms/disorders such as depression and anxiety and to detect its association with clinical and severity parameters of COVID-19 infection. The current study was a comparative cross-sectional approach, from the chest department’s “post-COVID-19 follow-up” outpatient clinic at Kobri ElKoba Medical Complex in Cairo, Egypt. A convenient sample of adult Egyptian patients were recruited between October 2021 and June 2022. They were subjected to the following: a pre-designed questionnaire to collect the patients’ demographic characteristics, Arabic version of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to identify potential cases, Arabic version of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID I) Clinician Version (SCID-CV) and retrieval of essential related clinical and laboratory data like C-reactive protein (CRP), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII): (neutrophils × platelets)/lymphocytes), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and D-dimer and COVID-19 treatment lines together with a liker scale questionnaire to assess the severity of COVID-19 infection. Depression was found to be the most prevalent psychiatric disorder (45.6%) among the study participants, followed by generalized anxiety disorder (42.1%). Subthreshold GAD and depression were found in 17.5% and 14% of patients respectively. COVID was a major predictor of GAD (p 0.000), while being on antibiotics (p = 0.033), having cardiac illnesses (p = 0.007), and an increased D dimer (p = 0.022) were the most predictive factors for depression. COVID-19 infection has demonstrated an increased risk of mental health problems in multiple domains. It was evident that depression was the most presenting psychiatric illness among the studied sample (45.6%), while generalized anxiety disorder was the second most prevalent disorder (42.1%). And suicide was found in 9.6% of the study sample. It is worth noting that our results displayed a high prevalence of subthreshold psychiatric symptom","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"42 12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139057059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexithymia is a condition in which cognitive processing of emotions is impaired. Associations between alexithymia and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) have been described in multiple studies, yet the coexistence or influence of oral behaviors has never been addressed. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between alexithymia, oral behaviors, and temporomandibular pain disorders. A total of 264 participants were included in this study. The mean age was 25.70 ± 5.99 years, with a range from 18 to 65 years. Eighty-two (31.1%) were possibly alexithymic, and 93 (35.2%) were alexithymic. A total of 12.5% of the participants were at high risk for TMD. With respect to oral behavior risk, 62.5% were at low risk, and 35.2% were at high risk. Alexithymia appeared to be a positive predictor of TMD risk (p < 0.001). Participants with high-risk oral behaviors were found to have an increased likelihood of TMD risk (p < 0.001). Moreover, both high-risk oral behavior and alexithymia correlated with increased somatic symptom burden levels (p < 0.001). Pain disorders exert significant distress on individuals and lead to poorer quality of life. Understanding the association of alexithymia, somatic symptom burden, and coping strategies with oral behaviors and temporomandibular pain disorders can help improve the management of this condition. By tailoring the chosen therapy to the dominant co-existing psychosocial comorbidities in TMD patients, the risk of treatment failure or relapse may be diminished.
{"title":"Alexithymia, oral behaviors, and temporomandibular disorders: a dark triad?","authors":"Nour Ibrahim, Wafaa Takash Chamoun, Abbass El-Outa","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00383-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00383-5","url":null,"abstract":"Alexithymia is a condition in which cognitive processing of emotions is impaired. Associations between alexithymia and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) have been described in multiple studies, yet the coexistence or influence of oral behaviors has never been addressed. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between alexithymia, oral behaviors, and temporomandibular pain disorders. A total of 264 participants were included in this study. The mean age was 25.70 ± 5.99 years, with a range from 18 to 65 years. Eighty-two (31.1%) were possibly alexithymic, and 93 (35.2%) were alexithymic. A total of 12.5% of the participants were at high risk for TMD. With respect to oral behavior risk, 62.5% were at low risk, and 35.2% were at high risk. Alexithymia appeared to be a positive predictor of TMD risk (p < 0.001). Participants with high-risk oral behaviors were found to have an increased likelihood of TMD risk (p < 0.001). Moreover, both high-risk oral behavior and alexithymia correlated with increased somatic symptom burden levels (p < 0.001). Pain disorders exert significant distress on individuals and lead to poorer quality of life. Understanding the association of alexithymia, somatic symptom burden, and coping strategies with oral behaviors and temporomandibular pain disorders can help improve the management of this condition. By tailoring the chosen therapy to the dominant co-existing psychosocial comorbidities in TMD patients, the risk of treatment failure or relapse may be diminished.","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139057425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-22DOI: 10.1186/s43045-023-00379-1
S. Atwa, M. Bassiony, Mervat Said, Eman Fouad
{"title":"Assessing the influence of personality and health beliefs on variability of COVID-19 fear among Egyptians: a cross-sectional study","authors":"S. Atwa, M. Bassiony, Mervat Said, Eman Fouad","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00379-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00379-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"6 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138947795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-21DOI: 10.1186/s43045-023-00382-6
Elie G. Karam, Ahmed Okasha, Natalija Trojanovic, Josleen Al Barathie, Dahlia Saab, Natasha Hakim, Nada Abbas
The progressive improvement in the educational level of the Arab world has been accompanied by a surge of scientific productivity. Mental health research, especially in the last four decades, is one such endeavor. Mental health research output over almost a century, from 1920 to 2018, is reviewed. A literature review was conducted using PubMed, PsychInfo, Cochrane, and the IDRAAC search engine to identify mental health publications over the past 100 years. Trends of mental health research were explored over time with reference to country population and gross domestic product (GDP). A total of 3373 articles were retrieved. The three countries with the highest number of mental health publications in the past century are Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Lebanon, representing together 41.5% of the productivity of all 22 Arab countries. The top producers also had the highest collaboration rates with other Arab countries (20%) as well as non-Arab countries. The top three publishers per capita are Lebanon, Kuwait, and Bahrain. When GDP was factored in, the top three countries are Lebanon, Palestine, and Tunisia. Most publications over the last decade (80%) were in international non-local journals. The leading subjects of research were epidemiology, mood disorders, obsessive compulsive behavior, and mental health services. Arab speaking countries have been increasing their mental health productivity over the past 100 years; however, only a handful of those countries were relatively active. Those leaders also had the highest level of Arab and international collaboration. Investing in regional and international collaborations is a solid recommendation of this review.
{"title":"Research in mental health in the Arab speaking world 1920 to 2018","authors":"Elie G. Karam, Ahmed Okasha, Natalija Trojanovic, Josleen Al Barathie, Dahlia Saab, Natasha Hakim, Nada Abbas","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00382-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00382-6","url":null,"abstract":"The progressive improvement in the educational level of the Arab world has been accompanied by a surge of scientific productivity. Mental health research, especially in the last four decades, is one such endeavor. Mental health research output over almost a century, from 1920 to 2018, is reviewed. A literature review was conducted using PubMed, PsychInfo, Cochrane, and the IDRAAC search engine to identify mental health publications over the past 100 years. Trends of mental health research were explored over time with reference to country population and gross domestic product (GDP). A total of 3373 articles were retrieved. The three countries with the highest number of mental health publications in the past century are Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Lebanon, representing together 41.5% of the productivity of all 22 Arab countries. The top producers also had the highest collaboration rates with other Arab countries (20%) as well as non-Arab countries. The top three publishers per capita are Lebanon, Kuwait, and Bahrain. When GDP was factored in, the top three countries are Lebanon, Palestine, and Tunisia. Most publications over the last decade (80%) were in international non-local journals. The leading subjects of research were epidemiology, mood disorders, obsessive compulsive behavior, and mental health services. Arab speaking countries have been increasing their mental health productivity over the past 100 years; however, only a handful of those countries were relatively active. Those leaders also had the highest level of Arab and international collaboration. Investing in regional and international collaborations is a solid recommendation of this review.","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138826792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-20DOI: 10.1186/s43045-023-00387-1
Christian U. Krägeloh, Oleg N. Medvedev, Hussain Alyami, Hetaf A. Alammar, Ayman Hamdan-Mansour, Emad Alyami, Sharif Alsoudi, Marcus A. Henning, Mohsen M. Alyami
Given the ubiquitous nature of digital technologies such as smartphones, research has increasingly focused on the health outcomes of prolonged use of such technologies. The Digital Stress Scale (DSS) has been developed recently, but it is currently only available in English and Chinese, and validations in other languages are warranted. The 24-item DSS was translated into Arabic using the method of translation and back-translation. Using a general population sample (n = 1069) from Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Jordan, the psychometric properties of the Arabic DSS (DSS-A) were investigated using higher-order confirmatory factor analysis. The original five-factor structure was replicated for the DSS-A without the need for any modifications such as item deletion or reassignment of items to another factor. Reliability was excellent for the total scale score (α = 0.92) as well as for the five subscales (α ranged between 0.81 and 0.91). Convergent validity was supported by significant correlations between the DSS-A and psychological distress. The strong psychometric properties of the DSS-A imply that this scale can now be used with high validity and reliability to explore the role of digital stress and its sub-characteristics in Arabic-speaking populations.
{"title":"Translation and validation of the Arabic version of the Digital Stress Scale (DSS-A) with three Arabic-speaking samples","authors":"Christian U. Krägeloh, Oleg N. Medvedev, Hussain Alyami, Hetaf A. Alammar, Ayman Hamdan-Mansour, Emad Alyami, Sharif Alsoudi, Marcus A. Henning, Mohsen M. Alyami","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00387-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00387-1","url":null,"abstract":"Given the ubiquitous nature of digital technologies such as smartphones, research has increasingly focused on the health outcomes of prolonged use of such technologies. The Digital Stress Scale (DSS) has been developed recently, but it is currently only available in English and Chinese, and validations in other languages are warranted. The 24-item DSS was translated into Arabic using the method of translation and back-translation. Using a general population sample (n = 1069) from Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Jordan, the psychometric properties of the Arabic DSS (DSS-A) were investigated using higher-order confirmatory factor analysis. The original five-factor structure was replicated for the DSS-A without the need for any modifications such as item deletion or reassignment of items to another factor. Reliability was excellent for the total scale score (α = 0.92) as well as for the five subscales (α ranged between 0.81 and 0.91). Convergent validity was supported by significant correlations between the DSS-A and psychological distress. The strong psychometric properties of the DSS-A imply that this scale can now be used with high validity and reliability to explore the role of digital stress and its sub-characteristics in Arabic-speaking populations.","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138820933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-20DOI: 10.1186/s43045-023-00381-7
Fiby F. Gabrielle, Heba H. El-Shahawi, Reem H. El Ghamry, Marwa Y. Basha
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a number of measures including lockdowns and social distancing. These measures affected mental health in healthy individuals and mentally affected patients. Studies examining the effectiveness of such strategies are still limited, and those with bipolar disorder (BD) are an especially vulnerable population. The current research aimed to evaluate the mental health status of BD patients throughout the pandemic, particularly as regards increasing the rate of relapse and appearance of other psychiatric comorbidities, and to evaluate and contrast the acute stress and psychological association experienced by persons with BD and those without mental diseases through the pandemic. A total of 103 participants were involved in the study, 50 in the diseased group and 53 in the healthy group. Concerning demographic data, there was significant variation among the two groups concerning gender, marital status, education, employment, and socio-economic status. A study of COVID-19’s association with psychometric data revealed a significantly higher score of IES-R in healthy participants compared to diseased. A comparison of COVID-19-affected patients and COVID-19-not affected patients revealed a statistically significant association between the IES-R median score result and COVID-19 effects. There was no significant distinction between healthy and diseased groups concerning scales of depression, anxiety, or insomnia. However, COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected routine life stress and acute stress measured by IES-R.
{"title":"Mental health status of patients with bipolar disorder during COVID-19 lockdown: a cross-sectional study at El Khanka Psychiatric Hospital","authors":"Fiby F. Gabrielle, Heba H. El-Shahawi, Reem H. El Ghamry, Marwa Y. Basha","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00381-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00381-7","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a number of measures including lockdowns and social distancing. These measures affected mental health in healthy individuals and mentally affected patients. Studies examining the effectiveness of such strategies are still limited, and those with bipolar disorder (BD) are an especially vulnerable population. The current research aimed to evaluate the mental health status of BD patients throughout the pandemic, particularly as regards increasing the rate of relapse and appearance of other psychiatric comorbidities, and to evaluate and contrast the acute stress and psychological association experienced by persons with BD and those without mental diseases through the pandemic. A total of 103 participants were involved in the study, 50 in the diseased group and 53 in the healthy group. Concerning demographic data, there was significant variation among the two groups concerning gender, marital status, education, employment, and socio-economic status. A study of COVID-19’s association with psychometric data revealed a significantly higher score of IES-R in healthy participants compared to diseased. A comparison of COVID-19-affected patients and COVID-19-not affected patients revealed a statistically significant association between the IES-R median score result and COVID-19 effects. There was no significant distinction between healthy and diseased groups concerning scales of depression, anxiety, or insomnia. However, COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected routine life stress and acute stress measured by IES-R.","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138820582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-19DOI: 10.1186/s43045-023-00380-8
L. L. Gilstrap, A. Nazeer, M. Ather, D. Shahwar, I. Shaffeeullah, A. Magbool, M. W. Azeem
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a screening questionnaire to identify children and youth’s emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer issues, and prosocial behaviors. The objective of this study was to validate the SDQ-Arabic against trained clinicians’ diagnoses for the first time in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country by examining its ability to discriminate between clinically referred and community youth samples, and to differentiate between major categories of diagnoses within a clinically referred youth sample. We recruited two samples of 13–17-year-old Arabic-speaking youth and their parents in Qatar: a clinically-referred sample from a child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) outpatient clinic and a stratified, representative school sample. Survey data, including the SDQ-Arabic, were collected as well as the clinical diagnoses given by the youths’ clinicians for the clinically referred sample. Using both areas under the curve and traditional analyses of variance, the SDQ-Arabic differentiated between the clinically referred and community samples of Arabic-speaking youth. In addition, the SDQ-Arabic differentiated between the main diagnoses in the clinically referred sample. The current study extends the validity of the SDQ-Arabic. The SDQ-Arabic, which had previously been validated in Arabic-speaking Levantine countries in the region, continues to demonstrate strong predictive value in a GCC sample. Implications for mental health screening are discussed.
{"title":"Validation of the Arabic strengths and difficulties questionnaire in Qatar","authors":"L. L. Gilstrap, A. Nazeer, M. Ather, D. Shahwar, I. Shaffeeullah, A. Magbool, M. W. Azeem","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00380-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00380-8","url":null,"abstract":"The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a screening questionnaire to identify children and youth’s emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer issues, and prosocial behaviors. The objective of this study was to validate the SDQ-Arabic against trained clinicians’ diagnoses for the first time in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country by examining its ability to discriminate between clinically referred and community youth samples, and to differentiate between major categories of diagnoses within a clinically referred youth sample. We recruited two samples of 13–17-year-old Arabic-speaking youth and their parents in Qatar: a clinically-referred sample from a child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) outpatient clinic and a stratified, representative school sample. Survey data, including the SDQ-Arabic, were collected as well as the clinical diagnoses given by the youths’ clinicians for the clinically referred sample. Using both areas under the curve and traditional analyses of variance, the SDQ-Arabic differentiated between the clinically referred and community samples of Arabic-speaking youth. In addition, the SDQ-Arabic differentiated between the main diagnoses in the clinically referred sample. The current study extends the validity of the SDQ-Arabic. The SDQ-Arabic, which had previously been validated in Arabic-speaking Levantine countries in the region, continues to demonstrate strong predictive value in a GCC sample. Implications for mental health screening are discussed.","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138744274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The authors aimed to evaluate the outcome of combined motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral therapy (MICBT) for substance use disorder compared to the twelve-step facilitation (TSF) therapy in terms of retention in the treatment program, the number of relapses, and the period of abstinence after discharge, coping with craving, and modification of problematic behaviors. This randomized controlled trial included 60 individuals with a substance use disorder. Participants were randomly allocated to equal groups. The MICBT group received 20 sessions of approximately 90 min of MICBT group therapy. The NA (control) group was assigned 20 narcotic anonymous (NA)-oriented TSF group therapy sessions. The assessment was conducted 3 and 6 months after the intervention. The implementation of MICBT in a group setting leads to a significant decline in the number of days of drug use in 3 months of follow-up (P = 0.006) and 6 months of follow-up (P < 0.001), an increase in the number of days of abstinence in 3 months of follow-up (P = 0.008) and 6 months of follow-up (P < 0.001), a longer time to the first lapse (P < 0.001), and a higher percentage of attendance days for treatment (P < 0.001) in comparison to NA groups. MICBT intervention was a significant positive predictor of several urge-specific coping strategies and several general strategies for drugs (P < 0.05). Using MICBT in group settings presents several benefits in clinical contexts.
{"title":"The outcome of integrated motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral therapy in Egyptian patients with substance use disorder","authors":"Mohamed Hossam EL-Din Abdel Moneam, Nesreen Mohsen, Lobna AbuBakr Azzam, Yasser Abdel Razek Elsayed, Ahmed Adel Alghonaimy","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00377-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00377-3","url":null,"abstract":"The authors aimed to evaluate the outcome of combined motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral therapy (MICBT) for substance use disorder compared to the twelve-step facilitation (TSF) therapy in terms of retention in the treatment program, the number of relapses, and the period of abstinence after discharge, coping with craving, and modification of problematic behaviors. This randomized controlled trial included 60 individuals with a substance use disorder. Participants were randomly allocated to equal groups. The MICBT group received 20 sessions of approximately 90 min of MICBT group therapy. The NA (control) group was assigned 20 narcotic anonymous (NA)-oriented TSF group therapy sessions. The assessment was conducted 3 and 6 months after the intervention. The implementation of MICBT in a group setting leads to a significant decline in the number of days of drug use in 3 months of follow-up (P = 0.006) and 6 months of follow-up (P < 0.001), an increase in the number of days of abstinence in 3 months of follow-up (P = 0.008) and 6 months of follow-up (P < 0.001), a longer time to the first lapse (P < 0.001), and a higher percentage of attendance days for treatment (P < 0.001) in comparison to NA groups. MICBT intervention was a significant positive predictor of several urge-specific coping strategies and several general strategies for drugs (P < 0.05). Using MICBT in group settings presents several benefits in clinical contexts.","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138716797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-18DOI: 10.1186/s43045-023-00388-0
Ekramy A. El-Khateeb, Nada M. S. Mohamed, Phoebe F. Ghobrial, Rania M. El-Husseiny
Up to 30% of male infertility may be idiopathic. Researchers are looking into psychological problems, particularly depression, as possible risk factors for such idiopathic etiology. We aimed to assess how depression affects Egyptian patients’ semen parameters and its indicators for male fertility and to evaluate the potential positive influence of improving the score of depression on these parameters. A prospective observational pilot clinical study included twenty-one male patients with moderate, severe, or very severe depression. They were subjected to baseline semen analysis. All patients were treated by serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). Those who showed improvement in their depression, within the following 6 months, were eligible for a second evaluation of their semen. We compared baseline semen parameters of all patients to 2021-WHO lower normal limit as well as post-improvement values. Only 16 patients showed improvement in their depression after treatment with SNRIs and were candidates for the 2nd assessment of semen analysis. No significant improvements could be detected except for volume. Yet, on repeating the comparisons including only patients with abnormal baseline semen parameters, significant improvements were observed in most semen parameters, including semen volume, sperm count per ejaculate, and percentage of sperm motility either progressive or total. The results addressed the potential impact of depression on male fertility in a sample of Egyptian patients through a negative effect on semen parameters. This effect is neither sole nor direct and may require either predisposed individuals or the existence of other co-factors to be manifested. However, the appropriate treatment of depression may reverse such effects and help in the management of male infertility.
{"title":"Impact of depression and the potential effect of its treatment on semen parameters","authors":"Ekramy A. El-Khateeb, Nada M. S. Mohamed, Phoebe F. Ghobrial, Rania M. El-Husseiny","doi":"10.1186/s43045-023-00388-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00388-0","url":null,"abstract":"Up to 30% of male infertility may be idiopathic. Researchers are looking into psychological problems, particularly depression, as possible risk factors for such idiopathic etiology. We aimed to assess how depression affects Egyptian patients’ semen parameters and its indicators for male fertility and to evaluate the potential positive influence of improving the score of depression on these parameters. A prospective observational pilot clinical study included twenty-one male patients with moderate, severe, or very severe depression. They were subjected to baseline semen analysis. All patients were treated by serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). Those who showed improvement in their depression, within the following 6 months, were eligible for a second evaluation of their semen. We compared baseline semen parameters of all patients to 2021-WHO lower normal limit as well as post-improvement values. Only 16 patients showed improvement in their depression after treatment with SNRIs and were candidates for the 2nd assessment of semen analysis. No significant improvements could be detected except for volume. Yet, on repeating the comparisons including only patients with abnormal baseline semen parameters, significant improvements were observed in most semen parameters, including semen volume, sperm count per ejaculate, and percentage of sperm motility either progressive or total. The results addressed the potential impact of depression on male fertility in a sample of Egyptian patients through a negative effect on semen parameters. This effect is neither sole nor direct and may require either predisposed individuals or the existence of other co-factors to be manifested. However, the appropriate treatment of depression may reverse such effects and help in the management of male infertility.","PeriodicalId":38653,"journal":{"name":"Middle East Current Psychiatry","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138716798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}