Perceptions of undergraduate medical students on artificial intelligence in medicine: mixed-methods survey study from Palestine.

BACKGROUND: The current applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine continue to attract the attention of medical students. This study aimed to identify undergraduate medical students' attitudes toward AI in medicine, explore present AI-related training opportunities, investigate the need for AI inclusion in medical curricula, and determine preferred methods for teaching AI curricula. METHODS: This study uses a mixed-method cross-sectional design, including a quantitative study and a qualitative study, targeting Palestinian undergraduate medical students in the academic year 2022-2023. In the quantitative part, we recruited a convenience sample of undergraduate medical students from universities in Palestine from June 15, 2022, to May 30, 2023. We collected data by using an online, well-structured, and self-administered questionnaire with 49 items. In the qualitative part, 15 undergraduate medical students were interviewed by trained researchers. Descriptive statistics and an inductive content analysis approach were used to analyze quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. RESULTS: From a total of 371 invitations sent, 362 responses were received (response rate = 97.5%), and 349 were included in the analysis. The mean age of participants was 20.38 ± 1.97, with 40.11% (140) in their second year of medical school. Most participants (268, 76.79%) did not receive formal education on AI before or during medical study. About two-thirds of students strongly agreed or agreed that AI would become common in the future (67.9%, 237) and would revolutionize medical fields (68.7%, 240). Participants stated that they had not previously acquired training in the use of AI in medicine during formal medical education (260, 74.5%), confirming a dire need to include AI training in medical curricula (247, 70.8%). Most participants (264, 75.7%) think that learning opportunities for AI in medicine have not been adequate; therefore, it is very important to study more about employing AI in medicine (228, 65.3%). Male students (3.15 ± 0.87) had higher perception scores than female students (2.81 ± 0.86) (p < 0.001). The main themes that resulted from the qualitative analysis of the interview questions were an absence of AI learning opportunities, the necessity of including AI in medical curricula, optimism towards the future of AI in medicine, and expected challenges related to AI in medical fields. CONCLUSION: Medical students lack access to educational opportunities for AI in medicine; therefore, AI should be included in formal medical curricula in Palestine.

Mental illness stigma as a moderator in the relationship between religiosity and help-seeking attitudes among Muslims from 16 Arab countries.

BACKGROUND: Determining the potential barriers responsible for delaying access to care, and elucidating pathways to early intervention should be a priority, especially in Arab countries where mental health resources are limited. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the relationship between religiosity, stigma and help-seeking in an Arab Muslim cultural background. Hence, we propose in the present study to test the moderating role of stigma toward mental illness in the relationship between religiosity and help-seeking attitudes among Muslim community people living in different Arab countries. METHOD: The current survey is part of a large-scale multinational collaborative project (StIgma of Mental Problems in Arab CounTries [The IMPACT Project]). We carried-out a web-based cross-sectional, and multi-country study between June and November 2021. The final sample comprised 9782 Arab Muslim participants (mean age 29.67 ± 10.80 years, 77.1% females). RESULTS: Bivariate analyses showed that less stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness and higher religiosity levels were significantly associated with more favorable help-seeking attitudes. Moderation analyses revealed that the interaction religiosity by mental illness stigma was significantly associated with help-seeking attitudes (Beta = .005; p < .001); at low and moderate levels of stigma, higher religiosity was significantly associated with more favorable help-seeking attitudes. CONCLUSION: Our findings preliminarily suggest that mental illness stigma is a modifiable individual factor that seems to strengthen the direct positive effect of religiosity on help-seeking attitudes. This provides potential insights on possible anti-stigma interventions that might help overcome reluctance to counseling in highly religious Arab Muslim communities.

Suicide literacy mediates the path from religiosity to suicide stigma among Muslim community adults: Cross-sectional data from four Arab countries.

BACKGROUND: The majority of research attention has been devoted to the link between religiosity and suicide risk, and a considerable amount of studies has been carried out on how stigma impacts individuals with mental health problems of different kinds. However, the interplay between religiosity, suicide literacy and suicide stigma has seldom been empirically researched, especially quantitatively. We sought through this study to redress the imbalance of research attention by examining the relationship between religiosity and suicide stigma; and the indirect and moderating effects of suicide literacy on this relationship. METHOD: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted among Arab-Muslim adults originating from four Arab countries (Egypt: N = 1029, Kuwait: N = 2182, Lebanon N = 781, Tunisia N = 2343; Total sample: N = 6335). The outcome measures included the Arabic Religiosity Scale which taps into variation in the degree of religiosity, the Stigma of Suicide Scale-short form to the solicit degree of stigma related to suicide, and the Literacy of Suicide Scale explores knowledge and understanding of suicide. RESULTS: Our Mediation analyses findings showed that literacy of suicide partially mediated the association between religiosity and stigmatizing attitude toward suicide. Higher religiosity was significantly associated with less literacy of suicide; higher literacy of suicide was significantly associated with less stigma of suicide. Finally, higher religiosity was directly and significantly associated with more stigmatization attitude toward suicide. CONCLUSION: We contribute the literature by showing, for the first time, that suicide literacy plays a mediating role in the association between religiosity and suicide stigma in a sample of Arab-Muslim community adults. This preliminarily suggests that the effects of religiosity on suicide stigma can be modifiable through improving suicide literacy. This implies that interventions targeting highly religious individuals should pay dual attention to increasing suicide literacy and lowering suicide stigma.

Cross-cultural comparison of mental illness stigma and help-seeking attitudes: a multinational population-based study from 16 Arab countries and 10,036 individuals.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that culture deeply affects beliefs about mental illnesses' causes, treatment, and help-seeking. We aimed to explore and compare knowledge, attitudes toward mental illness and help-seeking, causal attributions, and help-seeking recommendations for mental illnesses across various Arab countries and investigate factors related to attitudes toward help-seeking. METHODS: We carried out a multinational cross-sectional study using online self-administered surveys in the Arabic language from June to November 2021 across 16 Arab countries among participants from the general public. RESULTS: More than one in four individuals exhibited stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness (26.5%), had poor knowledge (31.7%), and hold negative attitudes toward help-seeking (28.0%). ANOVA tests revealed a significant difference between countries regarding attitudes (F = 194.8, p < .001), knowledge (F = 88.7, p < .001), and help-seeking attitudes (F = 32.4, p < .001). Three multivariate regression analysis models were performed for overall sample, as well as Palestinian and Sudanese samples that displayed the lowest and highest ATSPPH-SF scores, respectively. In the overall sample, being female, older, having higher knowledge and more positive attitudes toward mental illness, and endorsing biomedical and psychosocial causations were associated with more favorable help-seeking attitudes; whereas having a family psychiatric history and endorsing religious/supernatural causations were associated with more negative help-seeking attitudes. The same results have been found in the Palestinian sample, while only stigma dimensions helped predict help-seeking attitudes in Sudanese participants. CONCLUSION: Interventions aiming at improving help-seeking attitudes and behaviors and promoting early access to care need to be culturally tailored, and congruent with public beliefs about mental illnesses and their causations.

Anxiety levels among Palestinian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The widespread of COVID-19 causes serious distress on the mental health of the students during the lockdown period. The present study aimed to identify anxiety levels among students during the COVID-19 crisis. Design and methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey was carried out among university students aged 18-47 years. The 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) was used to assess anxiety symptoms. Results: Among the 1252 participants, the mean age was 28.82 (±7.28) years and 72.6% were female. Based on the results, 22.0% of the participants had no symptoms of anxiety, 25.2% had mild anxiety, 29.6% moderate anxiety, and 23.2% severe anxiety. Moreover, being a female (OR = 0.480, 95% CI = 0.257-0.704), younger age (OR = 0.359, 95% CI = 0.132-0.586), undergraduate level (OR = 0.493, 95% CI = 0.288-0.698), and stability of monthly income (OR = 0.516, 95% CI = 0.308-0.723) were found to be a protective factor against anxiety suffered by the participants. However, having a COVID-19-infected relative or acquaintance was a risk factor for anxiety (OR = 21.870, 95% CI = 21.870-21.870). The results revealed that the level of anxiety symptoms was positively associated with COVID-19 related stressors such as effects on daily living (r = 0.163, p < 0.001), economic stressors (r = 0.153, p < 0.001), and educational consequences (r = 0.150, p < 0.001), however, social support (r = 0.472, p < 0.001) was negatively associated with the anxiety. Conclusion: The psychological status of university students should be followed during times of health emergencies. It is essential to design a health program for influenced students to assist them to stay resilient throughout perilous situations.

Prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study among Palestinian students (10-18 years).

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic considers a threat to students' well-being and mental health. The current descriptive cross-sectional study aims to identify psychological distress among school students during the lockdown period. METHODS: This study was carried out in a sample of 420 primary and secondary school students from June 10 to July 13, 2020, in the Gaza Strip in Palestine. Data was collected using an online questionnaire that included informed consent, socio-demographic questions, and a psychometric scale (DASS-21). RESULTS: The results revealed that most students experienced moderate to severe levels of anxiety (89.1%) and depression (72.1%), whereas less than half of them (35.7%) experienced moderate to severe stress. Stress, anxiety and depression scores were significantly different across gender, age groups, family size, and family's economic status. The results showed that gender (ß = -0.174, p < 0.001), age (ß = -0.155, p = 0.001) and economic level of family (ß = -0.147, p = 0.002) were negative predictors correlated with stress. Family size (ß = 0.156, p = 0.001) played a positive role in stress. It was found that gender (ß = -0.105, p = 0.031), age (ß = -0.135, p = 0.006) and economic level of family (ß = -0.136, p = 0.005) were negative predictors correlated with anxiety, whereas family size (ß = 0.139, p = 0.004) played a positive role in anxiety. For depression, gender (ß = -0.162, p = 0.001), age (ß = -0.160, p = 0.001) and economic level of family (ß = -0.131, p = 0.007) were negative predictors correlated with depression, whereas family size (ß = -0.133, p = 0.006) was found to be a positive predictor. Concerns about the influence of COVID-19 on economic, education, and daily life were positively correlated to the levels of depression, anxiety and stress, whereas the availability of social support was negatively correlated. CONCLUSION: The development of a health protocol for influenced students is urgently needed to maintain them remain resilient during dangerous times.

Eating habits among primary and secondary school students in the Gaza Strip, Palestine: A cross-sectional study during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has a great impact on the eating habits, dietary intake, and purchasing behaviours of students. At this critical moment, there is an urgent need to identify the eating habits of school students, in particular, who live in low-income countries, during the lockdown period. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the influence of COVID-19 on the eating habits, quality and quantity of food intake among school students in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 2398 primary and secondary school students aged 6-18 year old through an online questionnaire which included questions on socio-demographic, eating habits as well as quality and quantity of food intake. Students over the age of 11 years completed the questionnaire on their own, whereas for students under the age of 12 years, the students' guardians were instructed to answer the questionnaire on their behalf. A Wilcoxon Signed-Rank and McNemar tests were applied to perform a comparison between general dietary habits before and during COVID-19. Also, a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to compare the median scores of food quality and quantity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic based on student's sociodemographic. RESULTS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in eating home-cooked foods (91.6%), avoiding ordering food from outside per week (93.3%) and buying groceries online (7.7%) (p < 0.001). There was a marked increase in the students reporting fear about food hygiene outside the home from 20.8% before COVID-19 to 72.9% during the COVID-19 period (p < 0.001). The results showed that the median score for food quality during the COVID-19 pandemic (11.0/6.0) was significantly higher than the before COVID-19 period (10.0, IQR = 8.0) (p < 0.001). The results revealed that the median score for food quantity before the COVID-19 pandemic (15.0, IQR = 5.0) was significantly higher than the during COVID-19 pandemic (14.0, IQR = 7.0) (p < 0.001). The results showed significant differences between the before and during COVID-19 period for food quality and quantity across socio-demographic variables (gender, age group, parent's highest level of education, monthly household income, and household size). During the COVID-19 pandemic, students from a high-income and a small size family had the highest score in terms of food quality and quantity among other counterparts when compared to other counterparts. CONCLUSION: Eating habits have significantly altered among school students during the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of some good healthy habits enhanced among students, the quantity and the quality of the food was compromised. Therefore, the responsible officials at the Ministry of Education must focus on enhancing school students' awareness towards increased intake of healthy food and adopting good eating habits during the spread of pandemics and health diseases to avoid its negative effects on students.

The role of social media in spreading panic among primary and secondary school students during the COVID-19 pandemic: An online questionnaire study from the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

BACKGROUND: The rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has opened up various issues on social media platforms among school students. The dangerous issue is that misinformation, fake news, and rumours spread on social media faster than reliable information, and also faster than the virus itself, damaging the health systems and affecting the mental health of social media users. OBJECTIVE: The current study aims at determining how social media affects the spread of panic about COVID-19 among primary and secondary school students in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. METHODS: The data were collected through an online questionnaire. By utilizing convenience sampling, we have reached a total of 1067 school students, aged between 6 and 18 years, from 56 schools located in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Independent Samples T-test, ANOVA, and chi-square tests were used to compare the data. RESULTS: The results showed that social media has a significant impact on spreading panic about COVID-19 among school students, with a potential negative impact on their mental health and psychological well-being. Facebook was the most common social media platform among students (81.8%), where female students had a higher likelihood than male students to use it to get news about COVID-19 (p < 0.001). Health news was the most frequently topic seen, read, or heard (n = 529, 56.2%) during the COVID-19 pandemic, where males were more likely to follow health news than females (p < 0.001). The majority of the students (n = 736, 78.1%) were psychologically affected, whereas those physically affected were the lowest (n = 12, 1.3%). Female students were psychologically affected and experienced greater fear significantly more than male students (p < 0.001). The effect of social media panic depending on a student's age and gender. (p < 0.001). This study showed a significant positive correlation between social media and spreading panic about COVID-19 (R = 0.891). CONCLUSIONS: During the closure of schools, students are using social media to continue their learning as well as to know more information about the COVID-19 outbreak. Social media has a main role in rapidly spreading of panic about the COVID-19 pandemic among students in the Gaza Strip.