Public opinions regarding informing terminal patients and their families about impending death

To tell or not to tell the terminal patients and their families about the impending death is a crucial question facing many health personnel. This study aimed at revealing the opinions of the community in Alexandria regarding this issue, and to relate these opinions to the interviewees, socio-biological variables. Using cross-sectional design, 416 subjects were randomly selected, and interviewed. The study revealed that the majority of the subjects agreed on informing the families, while less than half of them agreed on informing the patients. Informing the patient was stated more by men, and highly educated subjects, while informing the families was stated more by women, ever married and older subjects. Medical reasons were the commonest ones for informing, while emotional reasons were the commonest for hiding the truth

Mental health training program for school health physician in Alexandria

Before starting any mental health program for school children, orientation of mental health knowledge and practice among school health physicians should be started. The study was carried out on 24 school health physicians selected randomly from the six zones of Alexandria governorate to attend a special training program in mental health. The educational objectives included giving them some information about the common mental health problem in school and promoting mental health care through better management. The assessment covered some points including the recognition of the problem and its seriousness, knowledge about the aetiology of the different problems, when they suspect a child to have this problem, believes of people about those problems and how to prevent its occurrence