scholarly journals Research on psychosocial aspects of asthma in the Arab world: a literature review

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anas J. Al-Khateeb ◽  
Jamal M. Al-Khateeb

The importance of psychosocial factors in the management of bronchial asthma has long been recognized. This paper offers a review of research published in the English language related to psychosocial aspects of bronchial asthma in Arab countries. Several databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Springer Link, ERIC, and PsychInfo) were searched using the following keywords: bronchial asthma, Arab countries, Algiers, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine (West Bank, Gaza), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Sudan, Somalia; United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Thirty-two studies were conducted in 9 Arab countries. Almost all studies found were published in the last fourteen years with an apparent increasing rate in the last five years. In descending order, these studies addressed: knowledge of and attitudes toward asthma, quality of life, behavioral and emotional problems and factors related to academic achievement. The main results of the studies reviewed were: (a) physicians’, school staff’s, and parents’ knowledge of and attitudes toward asthma were generally unsatisfactory, (b) in-service asthma education programs significantly impacted parent and staff knowledge and attitudes, and asthma management practices, (c) quality of life in children and adolescents was significantly adversely affected by asthma, (d) asthma was a common cause of school absenteeism, and had a significant negative impact on academic achievement of students, and (e) students with asthma had significantly higher rates of behavioral and emotional difficulties compared to students without asthma. The paper concludes with a discussion about the implications of these results and a call for further research in this area.

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen E. Curtis ◽  
Gary W. Harper ◽  
Leonard A. Jason ◽  
Brigida Hernandez

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 490-498
Author(s):  
Samer Hammoudeh ◽  
Wessam Gadelhaq ◽  
Yahya Hani ◽  
Nadia Omar ◽  
Darine El Dimassi ◽  
...  

AbstractCystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic autosomal recessive disease that involves multiple systems. Both life quality and expectation are affected by the debilitating multi-system involvement of the disease which includes pulmonary, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and endocrine symptoms. Very few studies have covered the epidemiological aspects of the disease among Arab countries. To systematically review the available epidemiological literature on cystic fibrosis in order to describe the epidemiological state of this disease in the Arab world, this review used PubMed to search for relevant articles related to patients with cystic fibrosis, with no restriction on gender or age. Google scholar and the snowballing technique were used to locate further articles. A total of 17 articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. These articles were from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. The articles scored 1.5–6.5 out of 8 on the quality assessment. The epidemiological data reported varied based on country and type of study. The establishment of CF registries is definitely a priority in the region, as well as the need for more research involving CF patients particularly those involving the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of these patients.


Author(s):  
Germina-Alina Cosma ◽  
Alina Chiracu ◽  
Amalia Raluca Stepan ◽  
Marian Alexandru Cosma ◽  
Marian Costin Nanu ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to analyze athletes’ quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved 249 athletes between 15 and 35 of age, M = 21.22, SD = 5.12. The sample was composed of eight Olympic Games medalists, three European medalists, 67 international medalists, and 63 national medalists. The instruments used were: (1) COVID-19 Anxiety Scale, (2) Athlete Quality of Life Scale, (3) Impact of Pandemic on Athletes Questionnaire, and (4) International Personality Item Pool (IPIP Anxiety, Depression, and Vulnerability Scales). The results indicate significant differences in COVID-19 anxiety depending on the sport practiced, F (9239) = 3.81, p < 0.01, showing that there were significant differences between sports. The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic mediates the relationship between trait anxiety and the athletes’ quality of life. The percentage of mediation was 33.9%, and the indirect effect was −0.11, CI 95% (−0.18, −0.03), Z = −2.82, p < 0.01. Trait anxiety has an increasing effect on the intensity of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, 0.23, CI 95% (.10, 0.35), Z = 3.56, p < 0.01, and the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has a decreasing effect on quality of life, −0.47, CI 95% (−0.67, −0.27), Z = −4.62, p < 0.01. Gender and age did not moderate the relationship between the negative impact of COVID-19 and athletes’ quality of life. The results of the study highlighted the impact that social isolation and quarantine have on athletes’ affective well-being.


Author(s):  
Inmaculada García-Martínez ◽  
José María Augusto Landa ◽  
Samuel P. León

(1) Background: Academic engagement has been reported in the literature as an important factor in the academic achievement of university students. Other factors such as emotional intelligence (EI) and resilience have also been related to students’ performance and quality of life. The present study has two clearly delimited and interrelated objectives. First, to study the mediational role that engagement plays in the relationship between EI and resilience on quality of life. Secondly, and similarly, to study the mediational role of engagement in the relationship between EI and resilience, but in this case on academic achievement. (2) Methods: For this purpose, four scales frequently used in the literature to measure emotional intelligence, resilience, academic engagement and quality of life were administered to 427 students of the University of Jaén undertaking education degrees. In addition, students were asked to indicate their current average mark as a measure of academic performance. Two mediational models based on structural equations were proposed to analyse the relationships between the proposed variables. (3) Results: The results obtained showed that emotional intelligence and resilience directly predicted students’ life satisfaction, but this direct relationship did not result in academic performance. In addition, and assuming a finding not found so far, engagement was shown to exert an indirect mediational role for both life satisfaction and academic performance of students. (4) Conclusions: The findings of the study support the importance of engagement in the design and development of instructional processes, as well as in the implementation of any initiative.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136749352110129
Author(s):  
Alice S Schamong ◽  
Hannah Liebermann-Jordanidis ◽  
Konrad Brockmeier ◽  
Elisabeth Sticker ◽  
Elke Kalbe

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a major global health problem. Until recently, the siblings of this group did not receive much attention. This review, conducted from November 2019 to October 2020, aims to summarize knowledge about psychosocial well-being and quality of life (QoL), associated factors, and interventions for siblings of children with CHD. Systematic searches were conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Web of Science via EBSCOhost, and CENTRAL. Twelve articles were included. Results showed that psychosocial well-being was impaired in 14% to 40% of siblings. Negative impact of illness was highest for CHD siblings compared to siblings of children with cancer, cystic fibrosis, or diabetes. QoL was impaired in up to one-third. Siblings of children with CHD and cancer rated their QoL lower than those of siblings of children with cystic fibrosis or type-1 diabetes. Associated factors were sibling age, gender, socioeconomic status, miscarriage, previous sibling death, visibility of illness, and severity of condition. Only one of two interventions focused on siblings of CHD children. Although data are scarce and inhomogeneous, it indicates that siblings of CHD children suffer from lower psychosocial well-being and QoL than siblings of children with other chronic conditions. Interventions to improve their situation should be developed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 125-126
Author(s):  
T Jeyalingam ◽  
M Woo ◽  
S E Congly ◽  
J David ◽  
P J Belletrutti ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In patients with Barrett’s esophagus (BE), endoscopic therapy reduces the risk of progression to invasive esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Data on the impact of endoscopic therapy on patient quality of life (QoL) is limited. Aims We aimed to assess: (1) change in QoL during the course of endoscopic therapy for BE, (2) factors which predict this change, (3) whether achieving complete remission of dysplasia (CRD) or intestinal metaplasia (CRIM) affect the degree of change. Methods We conducted a retrospective observational study using a prospectively maintained database of BE patients treated in Calgary, Alberta from 2013–2020 containing data on demographics, BE disease characteristics and therapeutics, QoL, and follow-up. QoL was determined prior to initiation of therapy and after each treatment session using a validated questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were calculated and change in QoL was compared using a Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Backwards multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine predictors of change in QoL. Results Of 130 BE patients, 112 (86.1%) were male and 104 (80%) had dysplastic histology or intramucosal carcinoma on index endoscopy. Mean (SD) age was 65.6 (12.0) years. At time of analysis, 76 patients (58.5%) had completed endoscopic therapy, of whom 69 (90.8%) achieved CRIM; 54 patients (41.5%) were still undergoing treatment. There was significant improvement in all QoL measures during the treatment course except for “depression” (Table 1). Patients with CRIM or CRD had reductions in “sleep difficulty” and “negative impact on life” to a significantly greater degree vs patients not achieving CRIM (Δ sleep -0.45 vs 0.0, P=0.002; Δ negative impact -0.4 vs -0.05, P=0.014) or CRD (Δ sleep -0.40 vs +0.60, P=0.002; Δ negative impact -0.40 vs +0.20, P=0.04). Multiple linear regression revealed older age (B=-0.03, P=0.008) and fewer number of EMR sessions (B=0.254, P=0.008) were correlated with greater improvement in QoL. Conclusions Endoscopic therapy improves QoL in BE patients, especially in those achieving CRIM/CRD. Older age and fewer EMRs are correlated with greater improvement in QoL. These results further reinforce the role of endoscopic therapy as the first line treatment of BE and early EAC. Funding Agencies None


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (14) ◽  
pp. 3012
Author(s):  
Sandra Giménez ◽  
Miren Altuna ◽  
Esther Blessing ◽  
Ricardo M. Osorio ◽  
Juan Fortea

Sleep disorders, despite being very frequent in adults with Down syndrome (DS), are often overlooked due to a lack of awareness by families and physicians and the absence of specific clinical sleep guidelines. Untreated sleep disorders have a negative impact on physical and mental health, behavior, and cognitive performance. Growing evidence suggests that sleep disruption may also accelerate the progression to symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in this population. It is therefore imperative to have a better understanding of the sleep disorders associated with DS in order to treat them, and in doing so, improve cognition and quality of life, and prevent related comorbidities. This paper reviews the current knowledge of the main sleep disorders in adults with DS, including evaluation and management. It highlights the existing gaps in knowledge and discusses future directions to achieve earlier diagnosis and better treatment of sleep disorders most frequently found in this population.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135910532199080
Author(s):  
Y. H. Luo ◽  
W. H. C. Li ◽  
A. T. Cheung ◽  
L. L. K. Ho ◽  
W. Xia ◽  
...  

A child suffering from cancer can be considerably stressful for parents, exerting a negative impact on their psychological well-being and quality of life. This study explored the relationships between resilience and quality of life in parents of children with cancer. We recruited 146 parents of children with cancer in two tertiary hospitals in mainland China. The results revealed that greater parental resilience was associated with better quality of life. It is essential to develop interventions that can enhance resilience for parents of children with cancer, thereby improving their quality of life. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03631485


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