Nomophobia among university students in five Arab countries in the Middle East: prevalence and risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Excessive use of mobile phones leading to development of symptoms suggestive of dependence syndrome with teenagers are far more likely to become dependent on mobile phones as compared to adults. COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the mental health of several groups in society, especially university students. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of mobile phone dependence among university students and its associated factors. METHODS: Between September 2021 and January 2022, a cross-sectional study was conducted at universities in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia utilizing an online and paper-based self-administered questionnaire. We employed a previously developed questionnaire by Aggarwal et al. RESULTS: A total of 5,720 university students were involved in this study (Egypt = 2813, Saudi Arabia = 1509, Jordan = 766, Lebanon = 432, and Bahrain = 200). The mean estimated daily time spent on using mobile phone was 186.4 (94.4) minutes. The highest mobile dependence score was observed for the university students from Egypt and the lowest mobile dependence score was observed for the university students from Lebanon. The most common dependence criteria across the study sample was impaired control (55.6%) and the least common one was harmful use (25.1%). Females and those reported having anxiety problem or using a treatment for anxiety were at higher risk of developing mobile phone dependence by 15% and 75%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Mobile phone dependence is common among university students in Arab countries in the Middle East region. Future studies exploring useful interventions to decrease mobile phone dependence are warranted.

Visual health and prevalence of dry eye syndrome among university students in Iraq and Jordan.

Dry eye syndrome (DES), is a multifactorial disease that affects the ocular surface and contributes to the ocular symptoms. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced the general population and university students' health in different ways. The pandemic forced many people including university students around the world to use virtual platforms on their digital devices, such as computers and smartphones, to work from a distance. This study aimed to explore the visual health and prevalence of dry eye syndrome among university students in Iraq and Jordan. This was a cross-sectional study that was conducted in Iraq and Jordan using online questionnaire tool for the duration between November 2021 and January 2022. University students in Jordan and Iraq were invited to participate in this study and formed the study population. No restrictions on study level or field of study were applied. A previously developed and validated questionnaire tools were used in this study (National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire - 25 (VFQ-25) and the Women's Health Study Questionnaire (WHS), which was developed by Schaumberg et al.). A total of 1,431 university students were involved in this study (1,018 students from Iraq, 71.1%). Around one third the study participants (29.0%) reported that have been diagnosed by a clinician as having dry eye syndrome. Around15.3% of the total study participants reported that they feel their eyes are dry (not wet enough) and 17.3% reported that they feel their eyes are irritated. Based on Women's Health Study Questionnaire (WHS) criteria, a total of 479 participants (33.4%) are symptomatically diagnosed with DES. Students aged 27-29 years, those at their fifth year of study, and those who wear contact lenses are at higher risk of developing DYS compared to others. Dry eye syndrome is common health problem among university students. Further studies are required to identify other risk factors associated with DES. Future research should focus on identifying strategies that could help reduce the risk of developing DES as a result of the inevitability of long-term use of digital devices among many categories of society, including university students.

A review of the effectiveness of telemedicine in glycemic control in diabetes mellitus patients.

This review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of telemedicine as an intervention for patients with diabetes mellitus, considering blood glucose levels as the primary outcome. A comprehensive literature search was performed using the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases. This narrative review covered randomized controlled trials published in English. The process of selecting studies adhered to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines. Nine studies were selected, and their data were analyzed and summarized. Five of the nine reviewed studies found that telemedicine counseling was effective in decreasing glycated hemoglobin A (HbA1c) levels in the blood. Due to methodological limitations, one study could not report HbA1c results, and two studies reported that telemedicine counseling did not lead to any significant changes in HbA1c levels. One study found that while HbA1c levels did not show a marked decrease, patients' treatment adherence and quality of life improved when telemedicine was combined with health counseling. Moreover, six studies found that telemedicine counseling was more effective than traditional counseling regarding secondary outcomes. The overall findings of this review suggest that telemedicine counseling is more effective than conventional counseling in achieving decreased blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes mellitus while increasing their treatment adherence and improving their quality of life.

Attitudes of pharmacy students towards patient safety: a cross-sectional study from six developing countries.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the attitudes of undergraduate pharmacy students towards patient safety in six developing countries. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Participants were enrolled from the participating universities in six countries. PARTICIPANTS: Undergraduate pharmacy students from the participating universities in six developing countries (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, India and Indonesia) were invited to participate in the study between October 2018 and September 2019. PRIMARY OUTCOME: Attitudes towards patient safety was measured using 14-item questionnaire that contained five subscales: being quality-improvement focused, internalising errors regardless of harm, value of contextual learning, acceptability of questioning more senior healthcare professionals' behaviour and attitude towards open disclosure. Multiple-linear regression analysis was used to identify predictors of positive attitudes towards patient safety. RESULTS: A total of 2595 students participated in this study (1044 from Jordan, 514 from Saudi Arabia, 134 from Kuwait, 61 from Qatar, 416 from India and 429 from Indonesia). Overall, the pharmacy students reported a positive attitude towards patient safety with a mean score of 37.4 (SD=7.0) out of 56 (66.8%). The 'being quality-improvement focused' subscale had the highest score, 75.6%. The subscale with the lowest score was 'internalising errors regardless of harm', 49.2%. Female students had significantly better attitudes towards patient safety scores compared with male students (p=0.001). Being at a higher level of study and involvement in or witnessing harm to patients while practising were important predictors of negative attitudes towards patient safety (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Patient safety content should be covered comprehensively in pharmacy curricula and reinforced in each year of study. This should be more focused on students in their final year of study and who have started their training. This will ensure that the next generation of pharmacists are equipped with the requisite knowledge, core competencies and attitudes to ensure optimal patient safety when they practice.