Background and Objectives: Cancer treatments leading to increased survival rates are reported to participate in the creation of debilitating physical and psychosocial deficits for cancer survivors. Measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) are designed to tap such consequences of cancer treatment together with the impact of the disease itself. Methods: Parents of 67 included patients aged 8 - 12 years, were asked to complete the parent proxy report of PedsQL^TM 3.0 Cancer Module (Arabic version), as well as a separate sheet for socio-demographic data. Results: The ratio of Males to females was 1.8:1 among study patients with a median age of 8 years at diagnosis. Hematological malignancies represented 70.1% of the sample, with the highest proportion for ALL (52.2%). Total QOL showed to be relatively low with mean value of 62.29 for the whole group. Subscales with least scores were for; worry (44.11), perceived physical appearance (50.6), and procedural anxiety (55.34). On the other hand, the best score was 75.98 for communication, followed by 72.63 for cognitive problems. The impacts of some medical and socio-demographic variables on QOL and its subscales were elicited in our results. Conclusion: Increased treatment intensity, long duration of hospital admission, higher frequency of hospital visits, female sex, younger age at diagnosis, and large family size were all associated with a poorer total QOL and/or its subscales among Egyptian pediatric cancer patients.

Purpose Mental health is one of the aspects seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Governmental preventive measures worldwide disturbed people’s daily routine, social activities, access to education and even impacted their working environment. The present work aims at screening the expected negative effects on mental and psychological wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was introduced through an internet-based platform to assess mental wellbeing (MW) and stress among Egyptian adults using SHORT Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and Falsification of Type Scale, respectively. Socio-demographics were also collected. Data from 150 respondents through the period from May 25 till June 1 were tabulated and statistical analyses were performed. Findings More than 70% of respondents declared jobs being affected by the pandemic. Females showed deteriorated state of mental health, together with the youth (≤44 years) and those who lost their jobs or suffered reduced income. In conclusion, mental health as expressed by MW and stress showed to be affected among the Egyptian adults due to the “stay at home” orders. Prompt actions are highly recommended to save vulnerable populations at the time being and from the aggravation of their mental problems in the long term. Originality/value The study is the first in Egypt figuring out affected populations and vulnerable categories that need extra care in the future. It provides valuable data and expresses reasonable explanations to the obtained findings. The study also introduces recommendations and highlights hot topics for future research.

AIM:Workplace stress is hazardous for its harmful impact on employees’ health and organizational productivity. The aim of the study is to apply the Allostatic Load Index (ALI) which is a multi-component measure for health risk assessment and early detection of stress among workers in Egypt.METHODS:Sixty-two working adults randomly selected from two different working environments in Egypt were included in the study. Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire for socio-demographic and work variables. Andrews and Withey test for Job Satisfaction was filled and 3 ml blood samples were collected. Markers assessed for Allostatic Load were serum cortisol, c-reactive protein, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate, total thyroxine, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, waist to hip ratio and body mass index. The risk quartile method was used for calculation of ALI. ALI value of four or more indicates high Allostatic Load.RESULTS:Job satisfaction scale defined about a quarter of the study population (24%) to be dissatisfied with Allostatic Load of 2.4 as the mean value. Population percentage with ALI ≥4 reached 12.9% with 100% of them females. A significant association was found between Allostatic Load of primary mediators and age, the presence of chronic diseases, place of work and female gender.CONCLUSION:Female gender and the old age of the Egyptian workforce under study are at higher risk of chronic diseases. Using an alternative way -for example, the cut-point method- instead of the risk quartiles for dichotomization of markers used in ALI calculation could be more precise for early detection of stress among healthy individuals.

BACKGROUND:Occupational-stress, job-satisfaction and poor health outcomes are closely related and strongly pertain to individuals’ mental health and physiological well-being. Falsification of Type is a growing term in the field of organisational psychology that measures occupational stress when working in a job that does not match one’s, natural leader.AIM:The present work aims at determining the prevalence of falsification of type and associated socio-demographic and work-related factors.METHODS:The study sample consists of 150 researchers working at the National Research Centre of Egypt. Participants were asked to complete a self-report Falsification of Type Questionnaire, Andrews and Withey scale for Job Satisfaction, in addition to socio-demographic and work-related variables. Statistics included descriptive and comparative analyses. A regression model was built with falsification of the type as the dependent variable.RESULTS:Facilities showed the highest rate of dissatisfaction in the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. The most prominent manifestations of falsification were fatigue and irritability, and its predictors were the position, interpersonal relationships, facilities and sex according to the regression model. Falsification of type could seriously contribute to occupational stress. Job satisfaction is highly about falsification.CONCLUSION:More research on the Falsification of Type at work is recommended with the greater attention of employers to the importance of the concept of person-job fit.

AIM:The study aimed to assess worksite health education workshops as a successful tool for health promotion of employees.MATERIAL AND METHODS:A one day workshop was held for individuals engaged in research activities in the National research Centre of Egypt at the worksite. Its main objective was to highlight the nature, causes, symptoms and management of job stress. Participants were asked to fill a personality assessment sheet, a self-reported questionnaire for job satisfaction. Other questionnaires for assessment of falsification of type and some socio-demographic data were filled by the attendants. A concise survey was introduced at the end of the workshop for feedback collection.RESULTS:Attendants of the workshop were 36 subjects mainly females (94.4%). Mean age was 40.5 years with 63.9% of participants at their postdoctoral studies stage. Participants were at midway in the scale of job satisfaction (3.3) and did not suffer from falsification (0.3). The feedback survey score (11.5) showed great acceptance for the intervention. Special interest in the topic of stress was reported by 35.1% of attendants who found it the best item in the workshop and the interactive manipulation came next as declared by 18.9% of the participants.CONCLUSION:Worksite health education workshops seem to be a successful practice for empowerment in the Egyptian workplace.

Exposure to environmental stressors exert debilitating effects on the health of employees. Workforce in Egypt does not receive -in most cases-suitable preventive measures to face such a problem. Moreover, they lack the awareness of early signs and symptoms of stress. The aim of the present work was to investigate the interrelationship between work stress in terms of physiological and psychological signs and job satisfaction among the Training and capabilities Development Unit (TCD) in National Research Centre of Egypt (NRC). Some personality traits and learning styles were also investigated as predictors of stress. Forty two (12 males and 30 females) employees working at the different departments of TDC were recruited in the study. The sample subjects were asked to complete a survey to estimate their job satisfaction and another for work stress assessment. Participants were asked to fill the Intellectual Style Inventory (ISI) for learning style assessment in addition to some other personality traits. Participants reached 70%. Significant positive association was detected between low job satisfaction and high score on the work stress scale. The judging personality, the front left thinking, the base left perception and the front right thinking styles showed significantly to be the least suffering from signs of stress. Low job satisfaction is associated with work stress prevalence and helps in increasing psychological and physiological signs of distress. The different learning styles as described by the ISI show different responses to work stress and could be beneficial in similar studies.

Objective: The causal effect relationship between smoking and stress is a subject that invites continuous research. Hypothetically, investigation of stress biomarkers that are reported to be affected by tobacco intake may give us some explanation of the association between stress and smoking as a habit. Consequently, the present study aimed to assess the serum level of some stress biomarkers and compare them among smokers and non-smokers in a sample of Egyptian male healthy volunteers. Methods: Fifty-nine subjects were enrolled in the study (29 smokers and 30 non-smokers of matched age and gender). We measured serum levels of cortisol and interleukin-6 (IL-6) using the ELISA technique, and serum levels of α-amylase, triglycerides (TG), and total cholesterol (TC) using colorimetric methods. Results: Serum cortisol levels were decreased in smokers, and IL-6, TG, and TC were significantly higher in smokers than non-smokers, whereas, serum α-amylase did not show a significant difference. Serum cortisol showed to be negatively correlated with serum IL-6 in smokers. Conclusions: The present study assumes that smokers suffer from a state of chronic stress as evidenced by the observed decrease in serum cortisol due to negative feedback effects and increase in levels of serum IL-6, TG, and TC. This in turn enhances the craving to smoke to face stressors and leads to a vicious circuit that smokers fail to quit smoking.

This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author MSS invented the tool, shared in the study design, did the practical work, and wrote the manuscript. Author ZMM shared in the study design supervised the practical work and reviewed the written manuscript. Author SSM did the proof reading and the English editing. Author ASH performed the statistical analysis and shared in writing the statistical methods used and data description in the results section. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.