ABSTRACT
Background: Mental health patients with self-stigma often loss their self-esteem
The objectives: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence rate of mental illnesses stigma and its association with quality of life in adult Saudi patients attending the out patient's in psychiatry department in King Fahad University Hospital at Al Khobar, KSA
Methods: This is a cross sectional study. A demographic data including age, sex, marital status and occupation were collected in addition to a 32 question-based questionnaire with different variables divided into three parts; To gain further perspective on discrimination experienced by persons with mental illness. To study rejection experienced by mentally ill patients. To evaluate the patients coping ways to stigma which characterized by secrecy, avoidance and withdrawal, and advocacy and confrontation
Results: There were 71 [34.6%] women, 112 [54.6%] men. About third [36.6%] of respondent agrees that people think of mentally ill patients as untrustworthy. Almost half of them [44.9%] disagree that people find them dangerous. The same percent [44.9%] agree that people take them less seriously.41.5% of them feel that people avoid them. More than half of them 51.2% disagree that someone will not take them as close friend. But 54.6% didn't feel any avoidance from relative, neighbors or colleagues [missing data 11.2%]. 67.8% also, didn't feel any avoidance from family members. More than half [55.1%] tries to hide the fact that they are mentally ill and 72.2% will not avoid getting married or starting a family because of their mental illness history
Conclusion: Our study indicated that most of mental health patients in our community have experienced moderate to severe level of stigma. Future researches are needed to study the prevalence of stigma and rejection in mental health patients allover Saudi Arabia. Community awareness campaigns to raise the knowledge that mental illness is a disease like other body diseases and there is no shame of being mental health patient
ABSTRACT
Background: Human milk meets all the nutritional requirements of infants for the first 6 months of life, and it is associated with a lower incidence of diarrhea than partial or artificial feeding. The infant should be exclusively breastfed for at least 4 months of life and if possible for 6 months, as recommended by WHO and UNICEF
Aim of the Study: was to assess the breastfeeding practice for children under 24 months in Arar city, as well as its relation to some sociodemographic and nutrition related variables
Participants and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Arar city, mothers were selected from the attendees of 6 randomly selected primary health care centers in the city. They were interviewed and filled in a questionnaire that included the key questions
Results: 11.8% of infants received exclusive breastfeeding, 39.7% received a mix of both breast and artificial feeding while 48.5% depended only on artificial feeding. More than 50% of the studied infants were males, 70% of the mothers weren't working. No significant relationship between type of child feeding and child age, sex, mother education, mother's working status, father's work or mother age group [P >0.05]. About 2 thirds of children who had mixed feeding suffered from repeated gastroenteritis, delayed teething, standing and walking
Conclusion: In accordance with the obvious deficiency of exclusive breastfeeding in Arar city which is located in Northern Saudi Arabia, we highly recommend that programs promoting exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of age must be conducted to increase mothers' awareness of the exclusive breastfeeding duration is recommended