Omission and Commission in Morally Injurious Experiences Among COVID-19 Health Care Professionals.

Objective: To produce a qualitative description of the impact of moral injury on medical providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A convergent mixed-methods study design was used to explore experiences of health care workers during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed the Moral Injury Symptom Scale-HP (MISS-HP) and a 60-minute interview, in which they described their work experiences from March 2020 through January 2021. The study was conducted between May 2021 and August 2021.Results: Eight physicians and 6 nurses were interviewed. Most participants (71%) worked in the emergency department, while 29% worked in the medical intensive care unit (MICU). MISS-HP scores were 49 on average and ranged from 29 to 73. Among the demographic groups, MICU participants scored the highest (56) and men scored the lowest (40). There were no significant differences in scores between any demographic group. The analysis of interview data showed how omissions and commissions in one's professional duties created internal conflicts, which were inextricably linked to a deeper sense of feelings of guilt and blame around experiences of betraying or being betrayed and an inability to uphold one's moral values.Conclusions: The pandemic upended a previously reliable and imperceptible experience of a background of safety, in which the provision of both material resources and human presence was expected without question. Future directions generated from this study might examine the role of dependency on leadership structures and relationships with self and others that create the conditions for moral injury.Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 2024;26(1):23m03651. Author affiliations are listed at the end of this article.

Dietary patterns and associated lifestyle factors among university students in Qatar.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the association between university students' dietary patterns, their demographics and lifestyle in a cross-sectional study in Qatar. Participants: 370 students in eight universities in Qatar enrolled between February 2017 and February 2018. Methods: Based on a structured questionnaire, dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis, and their associations with student characteristics were assessed using logistic regression. Results: Four dietary patterns were identified. The 'fast food' pattern was associated with being younger and male (p-values ≤ 0.1). The 'traditional diet' pattern was associated with not skipping meals or eating when bored (p-values = 0.1). The 'healthy diet' pattern was associated with regular exercise and having time to eat healthy foods (p-values ≤ 0.01). The 'protein shake' pattern was associated with being male and engaging in more vigorous physical activity (p-values ≤ 0.01). Conclusions: Our findings provide a roadmap for the prioritization of population-specific interventions in university students within Qatar and the region.

Factors associated with suicidality among school attending adolescents in morocco.

Suicide amongst adolescents is a growing epidemic accounting for 6% of all adolescent deaths. Even though 79% of adolescent suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries, where suicide is the second leading cause of death, research is relatively lacking. As such, we aim to gain a greater understanding of suicide in said countries by assessing ideation and planning and associated factors in Morocco. Global Schools Health Survey data was analyzed. Approximately 14.4 and 12.9% reported ideation and planning respectively during the prior year in 2016, indicating a decrease from the reported rates of ideation of 16.0 and 17.0% and planning of 14.6 and 15.0% in 2006 and 2010 surveys respectively. Increased ideation was found to be positively associated with identifying as female and increasing age, whereas planning was positively associated with a lower educational level and living in a rural area. Both were positively associated with increased hunger frequency. Several factors increased the likelihood of ideation: bullying, feeling lonely, current cigarettes smoking, and current marijuana use. Studying factors associated with suicide is challenging, alternatively, factors affecting ideation and planning can be assessed. Sociocultural differences may impact trends in a specific region, though countries in said region may have comparable trends. The study adds to the limited data available in the region. Reverse causality and under-reporting could be the main limitations of this study. Interventions taking into account those results should be tested to decrease such a prevalence.

Factors associated with perceived stress in Middle Eastern university students.

Objective: University students face high levels of stress-related factors, such as an unfamiliar environment, challenging workload, and uncertainty about their ability to succeed. Participants: A total of 370 students in Qatar who consented to participate between February 2017 and February 2018. Methods: This cross-sectional study assessed perceived stress [using a validated 4-point perceived stress scale (PSS-4)], as well as diet, exercise, body mass index, sleep, and life satisfaction. Results: Among students aged 18-39 (mean = 20.1 ± 3.0 years), PSS-4 scores varied between 0 and 16 (mean = 7.4 ± 3.4). Elevated stress was significantly associated with female sex, country of origin, residing off-campus, eating when bored, lack of self-discipline, disturbed sleep, and low levels of life satisfaction. Furthermore, students with PSS-4 scores above the median level were 2.3 times likelier to report difficulty concentrating on academic work. Conclusion: Elevated stress levels are present in university students in Qatar. Strengthening coping skills may improve health and academic performance.

A World Psychiatric Association Initiative to Increase Interest in Psychiatry as a Career in Qatar Medical Students: A Pilot Study.

INTRODUCTION: The World Health Organization identified a chronic shortage of psychiatrists in Low- Middle- and High-Income Countries. In Qatar, the situation is dire with reports there is one psychiatrist per 170,000 people in the population. A one-day, student-led mental-health conference was held in Doha, Qatar under the auspices of the World Psychiatric Association with the aim of increasing interest in psychiatry as a career. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In this single-arm, pre-post comparison study, a questionnaire assessing interest in psychiatry as a career was administered on participants before and after attending the conference. Demographic information was obtained and response items were on a 5-point Likert scale. Statistical analysis was performed using a two-sample t-test with a significant p-value set at <0.05. RESULTS: The conference was attended by 102 individuals. Fifty-four attendees completed the pre-conference survey (53% response rate) and 36 participants completed the post-conference survey (35% response rate). Data for the 36 matched pre-post responses were included in our analyses. The average age of respondents was 22 years and 81% were female. There was improvement in post-conference results however these changes were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge this is the first intervention study on increasing interest in psychiatry as a career carried out in Qatar. It is likely that psychiatry enthusiasts attended the conference and therefore their interest in this medical specialty was already high as corroborated by the favorable pre-conference survey results. This might explain why there was a lack of statistical significance in comparison to post- intervention scores. We recommend that such an event be integrated into the medical school curricula throughout Qatar to include students with low baseline interest in psychiatry. Further research in this area with more robust methodology is urgently needed to help narrow the pervasive treatment gap.