RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Loneliness is characterized by a sense of melancholy, emptiness, and despair, as well as a higher risk of both psychological and physical problems. Numerous post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) sequela, both physically and mentally, have been caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic that has affected many people. Memory issues and loneliness were found to be uniquely correlated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the COVID-19 epidemic affected the levels of loneliness among Jordanian university students. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Google Forms were used for data collection, utilizing a three-item loneliness scale developed by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States, which accounts for the following items: (1) how often does the participant feel about lacking companionship, (2) how often does the participant feel being left out, and (3) how often does the participant feel isolated from others. Each item was marked for three frequency levels of experience: (1) hardly ever, (2) some of the time, and (3) often. Responses to the three loneliness questions were graded on a scale of 3-9, with scores between 3 and 5 indicating "not lonely" and scores between 6 and 9 indicating "lonely." RESULTS: The study included 802 participating students. Specifically, 75.4% of the participants were females, 58% were aged 20-25, and 39% were 17-19. In addition, 37% were from the capital city, while 28% lived in the middle area. Seventy nine percent were from public universities, and 74% were studying in their second year. According to UCLA's three-item loneliness scale, 411 (51.2%) participants were lonely, while 391 (48.8%) participants were not feeling lonely. According to direct question answers, 576 (71.8%) participants were lonely, and 226 (28.2%) were not lonely. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that the frequency of loneliness was high among Jordanian university students. However, both genders experienced equal levels of loneliness, while younger participants felt more lonely than older ones.
RESUMO
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of a medication management review (MMR) service on treatment-related problems (TRPs) and certain clinical outcomes in outpatients. DESIGN: Prospective randomized controlled study. SETTING: Two community pharmacies in Amman, Jordan. PATIENTS: A total of 160 people who visited the two community pharmacies between September 2009 and June 2010. INTERVENTION: Patients were randomized into two groups: intervention (82 patients) and control (78 patients) groups. The clinical pharmacist conducted a baseline assessment MMR for patients in both groups to determine the prevalence and type of TRPs; however, recommendations regarding the identified TRPs were only submitted to the physicians of patients in the intervention group. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: All patients were followed for an average of 3.39 months after their baseline visit to the pharmacy. The impact of the MMR service for the intervention group was assessed by evaluating the outcomes of the recommendations submitted by the clinical pharmacist to resolve the identified TRPs, physicians' acceptance of the recommended interventions, and the effect of the intervention on certain clinical outcomes: blood glucose levels, blood pressure, and triglyceride levels. Follow-up assessment of the control group included evaluating the outcomes of the identified TRPs (identified and corrected by physicians without any input from the clinical pharmacist) and comparing glucose level, blood pressure, and triglyceride-level results with baseline values. No significant differences in mean number of medical conditions (3.7 vs 3.42, p=0.134), mean number of medications (4.51 vs 4.96, p=0.135), or mean number of TRPs per patient (5.55 vs 5.17, p=0.42) were observed at baseline in the intervention group versus the control group. Follow-up results revealed a high acceptance rate of recommendations by the physicians (94%). Regarding outcomes of TRPs, almost 70% of the identified TRPs in the intervention group were resolved or improved compared with 2% in the control group (p<0.001). Significant differences were found between the intervention group versus control group with regard to mean ± SD glucose levels (99.08 ± 9.66 vs 115.48 ± 17.34, p<0.001), blood pressure (110.36/81.55 ± 9.45/3.91 vs 125.0/88.73 ± 10.34/4.12, p<0.001), and triglyceride levels (148.53 ± 15.98 vs 170.74 ± 6.26, p=0.001). CONCLUSION: The MMR service resulted in a significantly lower number of TRPs and significantly improved clinical outcomes, and it was highly accepted by the physicians.
