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IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic revealed a multidimensional impact on mental health due to health concerns, social distancing and lockdowns, job loss, and limits in institutional support. Accordingly, COVID-19 may disproportionally impact families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) due to the already high prevalence of mental health conditions in children with SEND and their parents. Hence, it is essential to determine the short-term impact of the pandemic on the mental health of families with SEND to identify their ongoing health, including psychological wellbeing and support needs. The current study examines the anxiety level and concerns of children with SEND and their parents living in Saudi Arabia.MethodologyA cross-sectional national study design was utilized as a part of an international consortium using an online Arabic survey. Data were collected from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development beneficiaries from May to July 2020. The sample consisted of 1,848 parents of children with SEND aged between 1 and 18 years (mean = 9.66; SD = 4.31). A descriptive and bivariant analysis is reported.ResultsParental worries on all those concerns when the pandemic started were significantly higher than before the pandemic, p < 0.050. Parental-perceived general anxiety had risen significantly across time, p < 0.001, and their perceived anxiety when the pandemic started exceeded their anxiety before the pandemic, p < 0.001. The general anxiety of children with SEND had risen significantly across time (from before the pandemic to when it had started to during the pandemic), p < 0.001. The children's general worries at the start of the pandemic had correlated significantly and positively with their anxiety, adaptive, maladaptive, and coping efficacies, and parental anxiety scores, p < 0.010 each.ConclusionAnxiety levels were high in SEND and their caregivers before and during COVID-19. At the start of the pandemic, the anxiety, adaptive, maladaptive, coping efficacies, and parental anxiety scores of children with SEND were significantly and favorably correlated. These findings support the notion of SEND-specific anxiety and patterns of coping in SEND and their caregivers. The notion also attests to the institutional support required for this specifically vulnerable population during epidemics.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of alexithymia and its associated factors among medical students at King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at KSU, including 420 medical students from all years of medical college (i.e., first to the fifth year), by using an electronic questionnaire distributed during August 2021. The questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic-related questions and the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale (a validated scale in the literature). Results: The prevalence of alexithymia among the participants was found to be 26.9%. A statistically significant association between alexithymia and gender ( p =0.013) was found. A diagnosis with any psychiatric condition ( p =0.026), history of abuse during childhood ( p =0.006), and lack of physical activity were associated with alexithymia. Conclusion: The prevalence of alexithymia among medical students at KSU was significantly higher than general population in literatures. It was indicated in the results that being female, having a psychiatric condition or history of childhood abuse, and lack of physical activity were all associated with alexithymia. We recommend increasing awareness of and screening for alexithymia and its associated factors among medical students.

Burnout in healthcare workers (HCWs) is defined as a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that results from unmanaged, excessive, and long-term workplace stressors. This study aims to assess the prevalence of burnout and the levels of anxiety and depression among HCWs who primarily work with children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted utilizing the Arabic version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS), Patient Health Questionnaire for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), and Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression (PHQ-9). Among the 381 participants working in autism centers, the majority were young Saudi females (326) working full-time as specialists in the private sector with less than five years of experience. The HCWs’ overall mean scores on the three Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA) were 62%, 23.7%, and 76.5%, respectively. A total of 51.4% of HCWs reported moderate to high anxiety levels on GAD-7, and 47.8% showed moderate to very high levels of depression on PHQ-9. The mean perceived EE converged significantly but negatively on their overall mean perceived satisfaction with AWS (p-value < 0.001), demonstrating that greater emotional fatigue predicts less satisfaction with their work. The PA scores correlated significantly and positively with their overall mean satisfaction with their AWS score (p-value < 0.001). Considering sociodemographic variables, HCWs aged between 20–29 years have significantly lower mean PA scores than HCWs aged thirty and older (p = 0.007). Also, male HCWs perceived significantly higher work-related DP than females. More research is required to determine the nature of variables that contribute to burnout, depression, and anxiety in HCWs helping children with ASD.

BackgroundIncidences of cancer are increasing at an unprecedented rate in Saudi Arabia, making it a major public health concern. Cancer patients are faced with physical, psychological, social, and economic challenges, all of which can impact quality of life (QoL).ObjectivesThis study aims to explore the sociodemographic, psychological, clinical, cultural, and personal factors that could affect the overall QoL of cancer patients.MethodsA total of 276 cancer patients who attended the King Saud University Medical City's oncology outpatient clinics between January 2018 to December 2019 were included. QoL was assessed with the Arabic version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30. Psychosocial factors were assessed with several validated scales.ResultsQoL was poorer among patients who were female (p = 0.001), have visited a psychiatrist (p = 0.028); were taking psychiatric medications (p = 0.022); and had experienced anxiety (p &lt; 0.001), depression (p &lt; 0.001), and distress (p &lt; 0.001). The most used method to self-treat was Islamic Ruqya (spiritual healing; 48.6%), and the most often perceived cause for developing cancer was evil eye or magic (28.6%). Good QoL outcomes were associated with biological treatment (p = 0.034) and satisfaction with health care (p = 0.001). A regression analysis showed that female sex, depression, and dissatisfaction with health care were independently associated with poor QoL.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that several factors could influence cancer patients' QoL. For instance, female sex, depression, and dissatisfaction with health care were all predictors of poor QoL. Our findings support the need for more programs and interventions to improve the social services for cancer patients, along with the need to explore the social difficulties oncology patients face and address such obstacles through improving social services by expanding the scope of social workers' contribution. Larger multicenter longitudinal studies are warranted to examine the generalizability of the results.

This cross-sectional study aims to compare pre- versus post-psychiatry course stigma levels toward mental illnesses among King Saud University medical students and identify which factors could affect stigma degree. The sample included 384 randomly chosen students. The overall scores of the used scale, the 15-item Opening Minds Scale for Healthcare Providers (OMS-HC-15), indicated no statistically significant difference between the before- and the after-psychiatry-course groups. The univariate analysis for differences in OMS-HC-15 score according to the sociodemographic characteristics of the pre psychiatry course group indicated that the factors associated with the total OMS-HC-15 score were sex (p < 0.001), being diagnosed with mental illness (p < 0.001), and having a relative diagnosed with mental illness (p = 0.005). Among the post psychiatry course group, the univariate analysis indicated that the same factors, namely, sex (p = 0.001), being diagnosed with mental illness (p = 0.006), and having a relative diagnosed with mental illness (p = 0.007), were associated with the total OMS-HC-15 score. Further studies at a larger scale to confirm generalizability of the results are warranted.

Compassion fatigue (CF) poses significant challenges to healthcare workers’ (HCWs) well-being. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of CF and identify its predictive factors among HCWs in all regions of Saudi Arabia (SA). As such, all HCWs from different disciplines in different centers were allowed to participate, resulting in 678 participants. The study tool, distributed between October 2022 and January 2023, consisted of a questionnaire created by the authors based on the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL). The ProQOL measures the positive (compassion satisfaction [CS]) and negative (CF) effects of helping those who have suffered, noting that burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress (STS) are the two subscales that constitute CF. Our findings revealed that 63.9% of HCWs experienced average STS, while 57.2% reported average BO levels. HCWs in the southern and northern regions exhibited higher STS (p-value = 0.003 and 0.010, respectively). Physicians displayed higher BO levels (p-value = 0.024). Higher levels of CS were found among older HCWs (p-value = 0.001) and lower levels among those with more years of experience (p-value = 0.004). Support at work and job, life, and financial income satisfaction were significantly and positively correlated with CS and negatively correlated with BO and STS. These findings highlight the need for tailored awareness campaigns targeting HCWs, particularly physicians, to promote well-being, enhance coping skills, and foster problem-solving techniques. Keywords: burnout; compassion fatigue; compassion satisfaction; healthcare workers; professional quality of life; Saudi Arabia; secondary traumatic stress; medical trainees’ well-being.