Emotional eating in relation to psychological stress during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in faculty of medicine, Tanta University, Egypt.

BACKGROUND: Stress, anxiety, and depression resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as subsequent restrictive measures had a negative impact on eating behaviors. This study aimed to determine the emotional eating behaviors and the perceived stress level and to assess the relation between them among adults in the faculty of medicine during the late period of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study among 580 persons from the faculty of medicine, at Tanta University, Egypt conducted over a period of one month during the last period of partial lockdown (October 2020). A self-administered structured questionnaire consisted of five parts used in the study (sociodemographic factors, COVID-19-related parameters, nutrition-related information during the pandemic, emotional eating scale, and perceived stress scale). RESULTS: More than two-fifths of students, employees, and staff (45.2%, 45.5%, and 44.2%, respectively) stated that their weight increased as a result of the lockdown. 50.8% of students, 42.5% of employees, and 54.6% of staff were in the moderate emotional eating groups. Similarly, the majority of students, employees, and staff reported moderate levels of stress(84%, 80.8%, and 76.1% respectively). The total emotional eating score was positively correlated with the total perceived stress scores (r = 0.13, p = 0.001*). CONCLUSION: COVID-19 pandemic, particularly during the period of lockdown, had a negative impact on individuals' psychological stress levels and levels of emotional eating behaviors.

Social media and spreading panic among adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, Egypt.

The COVID-19 pandemic became a challenge to human well-being. The rapid spread of the coronavirus diseases with quarantine measures make people use social media platforms more than before. The bad use of social media platforms affects the mental health of users leading to spread of panic among persons. This study aimed to determine the impact of social media on spreading panic about COVID-19 among adults in Egypt. This was a cross-sectional study that enrolled 2032 participants through online snowball sampling approach conducted during May 2021 to collect data from adults in Egypt. A self-administered questionnaire was used. It consists of three sections as follows: demographic characteristics, the social media platforms employed during the pandemic, the impact of social media on study participants. Nearly half of both sexes believed that spreading news about COVID-19 on social media platforms has a major role in spreading fear among people. More than half of the study participants reported that the level of Egyptian pages on social media covering COVID-19 was not good. A total of 46% females and 30.1% of males; those with primary, preparatory, higher, and postgraduate education; and 46.7% of medical and 32.1% of nonmedical were psychologically affected. The impact of social media on spreading panic among Egyptians varies according to gender, level of education, and occupation. Therefore, social media played an important role in spreading panic during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physicians' attitudes and acceptance regarding COVID-19 vaccines: a cross-sectional study in mid Delta region of Egypt.

Safe and effective vaccines became an important preventive tool against novel corona virus disease infection. Physicians were prioritized for early vaccination since they are at higher risk for contagion of the infection and they might affect the general populations' uptake of the vaccine. This study aimed to examine the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccines and the underpinnings of reluctance to uptake the vaccine among working physicians in Egypt. A cross-sectional study was conducted for 3 months, recruiting 1268 physicians using a snowballing random sampling technique. A self-administered electronic questionnaire was deployed to collect related data. Of participants, 24% expressed their acceptance towards COVID-19 vaccines, 39% would wait for further review, while 36.7% did not agree to get vaccinated. Findings revealed that 22% of them were vaccinated and the significant determinants of unacceptability included age, gender, higher educational attainments, prior infection, lack of direct patients' contact, and working in rural health facilities (p < 0.05). The most common reasons beyond their reluctance were fear of the vaccines' adverse effects and the short duration of its clinical trials (60% and 49.5%). Physicians had a low intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines particularly between females, senior staff, and those who had a low self-perceived risk for the infection. Integrated approaches should be designed to address concerns and factors associated with vaccine unacceptability to reduce vaccination reluctance between physicians, hence the general population.

Internet addiction among medical and non-medical students during COVID-19 pandemic, Tanta University, Egypt.

Internet addiction is one of the most growing addictive behaviors worldwide, especially among university students affecting their physical and mental health negatively. During COVID-19, accessing online books, completing assignments, and online assessments are highly recommended by universities, teachers, and students. The Internet has increasingly become a vital part of our lives, and distant online classes increase the dependency of students on the Internet. The aim of this study is to assess the level of internet addiction among medical or non-medical students in Tanta University, Egypt. This was a cross-sectional study conducted during October and November 2020. It included 373 students from the faculty of medicine and 373 non-medical students from the faculty of science. The validated (IAT-20) was used to assess the level of Internet addiction among these students. A total of 51.7% of medical students were found severe internet addicts and 43.4% of them were possible addicts compared to only 11.3% of non-medical students who were found severely addicted to the Internet and 68.9% of them were possible addicts with statistically significant difference between them. Female students of both colleges were found addicted to the Internet than males. Female medical and non-medical students suffered from severe Internet addiction more than non-medical and male ones. Appropriate awareness creation intervention strategies should be implemented to decrease the level of Internet addiction among university students and to reduce its harmful and negative consequences.