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BACKGROUND: Trichotillomania (TTM) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by repetitive pulling out of one's own hair, in which the scalp, brows, and eyelids are the most common sites. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of TTM among healthcare workers and students and to determine its association with psychiatric disorders. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare workers and students in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected through an online self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic characteristics, the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Hairpulling Scale to measure TTM, and the Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) to measure the psychiatric disorders of the participants. A convenience sampling technique was implemented. The sample size was calculated to be 385. RESULTS: Of the total 460 participants, 62% (n = 285) were students, 55% were females and 61.7% (n = 284) were aged between 18 and 24 years. The most commonly associated chronic disease was diabetes (n = 34, 7.4%), followed by asthma (n = 30, 6.5%). The prevalence of TTM was 4.8% (n = 22), which was higher among medical students (n = 15, 5.3%) as compared to medical workers (n = 7, 4%). While taking psychiatric medication (AOR = 0.197; 95% CI = 0.076-0.508 p = 0.001) was identified as the protective factor for TTM, previous diagnoses of psychiatric illness (AOR = 4.298; 95% CI = 1.759-10.499; p = 0.001), stress (AOR = 4.759; 95% CI = 1.541-14.695; p = 0.007), and depression (AOR = 3.149; 95% CI = 1.190-8.334; p = 0.021) were recognized as independent risk factors of TTM. CONCLUSION: Trichotillomania was less common among health workers and students in Saudi Arabia. However, if trichotillomania is present, the disorder was found to be more common among those with associated psychiatric illnesses, including those who were anxious and depressed. Hence, further research is required to validate the impact of psychiatric conditions on the prevalence of TTM in the study region.
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BACKGROUND: Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activities are initiated and sustained. Motivation is a crucial factor in academic achievement. The study aims to measure students' demographic factors and external environments' effect on their motivation and determine the impact of students' motivation and self-efficacy on their learning engagement and academic performance. METHODOLOGY: This is a cross-sectional study that involved distributing an online digital questionnaire, which was applied in the capital of Saudi Arabia, "Riyadh." The students' motivation was assessed using three scales that are designed to measure the students' intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and learning engagement. RESULTS: In this study, we collected 429 responses from our distributed questionnaire among medical students where males represented 60.1% of the sample. Moreover, we classified the satisfaction level into five subcategories: very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, unsatisfied, and very unsatisfied. We found that most of the students (38.7%) were satisfied with their academic performance, while 17.7% were strongly satisfied. The mean enrollment motivation score in this study was 19.83 (SD 2.69), and when determining its subcategories, we found that the mean intrinsic motivation score was 10.33 (out of 12) and the mean extrinsic motivation score was 10.23 (out of 12). Moreover, the mean self-efficacy score was 9.61 and the mean learning engagement score was 8.97 (out of 12). Moreover, we found that a longer duration needed by the students to reach the college from their residence is significantly associated with lower learning engagement reported by the students (8.54 vs. 9.13 in shorter times, P=0.034). Finally, we found that students who entered medical school as their first choice had significantly higher intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and learning engagement. CONCLUSION: A student's preference for entering medical school will affect their motivation, self-efficacy, and learning engagement. Moreover, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations significantly correlate with self-efficacy and satisfaction with academic performance; however, they have no effect on the grade point average (GPA) of the last semester. The only factor that positively correlates with students' GPA is learning engagement.
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OBJECTIVES: To measure the prevalence of low self-esteem among medical students in Saudi Arabia and determine its impact on their behaviors and academic achievement. METHODS: We hypothesized that the level of self-esteem reflected on the student's academic performance and linked to some of their behaviors. A cross-sectional study was carried out among students of the medical colleges in Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed electronically using social media platforms, socio-demographic data, Rosenberg's self-esteem scale, and a questionnaire about self-esteem-related behaviors. RESULTS: Of 1099 participants (55.9% females and 50% males), 24.1% showed low self-esteem. Independent significant predictors of low self-esteem were female gender and diagnosis with mental illness. Increasing GPA was associated with better self-esteem. Participating in students' study groups and attending self-development programs were estimated to be the protective factors against low self-esteem. CONCLUSION: One-quarter of medical students are assumed to have low self-esteem. Improved GPA ratings positively influence self-esteem, while attending students' study groups and self-development programs were identified as protective factors for low self-esteem. Further studies are needed to shed more light on this important topic.
