Correlates of disordered eating among gay men in Lebanon.

The present cross-sectional design study examined six factors and their associations with disordered eating among 129 Lebanese men who identified themselves as gay. The factors under study were self-objectification, body dissatisfaction, shame-proneness, guilt-proneness, positive minority identity, and a sense of connectedness to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Nongovernmental organizations that advocate for LGBT individuals assisted in the recruitment of participants. Data were analyzed through a hierarchical multiple regression, and age, education level, socioeconomic status, and religious affiliation were controlled for. The control variables alone explained 6% of the variance, and the six variables of interest within this study explained an additional 25% after being entered into the model. Self-objectification and shame-proneness were significantly, positively related to disordered eating among the participants in this study. In contrast to prior research, body dissatisfaction was not significantly associated with disordered eating in the present study. Results of this study indicate that self-objectification and shame-proneness might be important issues to consider in clinical work with gay Lebanese men exhibiting disordered eating symptomatology.

Validation of the Arabic Version of the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU).

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a highly stressful environment for parents. The Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU) has been validated and used in several languages aside Arabic. This study aimed at translating the scale to Arabic (A-PSS: NICU) and validating it using a cohort of parents of infants admitted to the NICU. Between August 2015 and May 2017, the reliability and construct validity of the A-PSS: NICU were tested on 207 mothers and fathers in two tertiary care hospitals within Greater Beirut. Participants answered the A-PSS: NICU questionnaire, and were interviewed by a clinical psychologist who used the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A). An exploratory factor analysis revealed that the A-PSS: NICU is composed of four factors. The A-PSS: NICU overall reliability was excellent (Cronbach's alpha .92). The A-PSS: NICU scores correlated positively and significantly with those of the HAM-A (r = .24, p < .0001). The A-PSS: NICU is a valid and reliable measure of parents' stress in the NICU. Using this scale may prove to be beneficial to Arabic-speaking parents as it assists health professionals in identifying potential stressors that can be addressed during the infants' stay within the NICU.