Diana Malaeb

Gulf Medical University | GMU

Meta-analytic results have revealed a significant influence of stress on a wide array of psychological and behavioral markers, underscoring its considerable clinical importance. Providing a simple and cost-effective tool assessing stress for the Arabic-speaking population would be immensely beneficial. Therefore, our research objective was to exami...

Introduction While several studies have examined stroke public knowledge and awareness in individual countries within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, none have provided a comprehensive cross-country assessment. Purpose To assess public stroke knowledge and awareness among Arabic-speaking adults in seven MENA countries and identify...

Background: The Short Boredom Proneness Scale (SBPS) is a common tool for assessing individuals’ inclination toward Boredom. The Arabic version of the SBPS has not been validated despite the language being spoken by over 420 million people worldwide. Therefore, this study aims to translate the SBPS into Arabic and prove its psychometric properties...

Background: Due to the elevated global prevalence of its consumption, and the detrimental health effects it can have, caffeine use disorder (CUD) should receive a great deal of attention from clinicians and the research community in Arab countries as an area of concern. To help advance the field, this study aimed to translate the Caffeine Use Disor...

Objective Our aim in this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Shitsu-Taikan-Sho (Alexisomia) Scale (Ar-STSS) in a sample of Lebanese adults. Methods Data for this cross-sectional study was gathered using a Google form link. A sample of 758 Lebanese adults (61.2% females, mean age of 30.27 ± 13.80 years) compl...

The first aim of the study is to clarify the associations between intuitive eating, self-esteem, physical appearance and psychological distress; and second, to assess the mediating effect of psychological distress on the relationship between self-esteem/physical appearance comparison and intuitive eating. A total of 359 Lebanese participants from s...

Background: Parental stress significantly impacts the well-being of families, and necessitates culturally sensitive tools for its assessment. The Parental Stress Scale, widely used in diverse cultural settings, lacks a validated Arabic version suitable for the Lebanese context, where unique sociopolitical and economic factors might influence parent...

Background This study aimed to assess medication adherence among Jordanian patients with dyslipidemia and evaluate the impact of health literacy, well-being, and doctor-patient communication on adherence in this population. Dyslipidemia is a prevalent condition that significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, and understanding the...

Background Dysmenorrhea, characterized by painful menstrual cramps, significantly impacts the well-being of women globally. Despite its prevalence and adverse effects, dysmenorrhea is often underdiagnosed and inadequately treated. This study aims to validate the Arabic version of the Working ability, Location, Intensity, Days of pain, and Dysmenorr...

Background Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients encounter many obstacles that affect their physical and psychological well-being. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate potential correlates of optimism/pessimism in a sample of patients with CKD, including socio-demographics, body appreciation and disordered eating symptoms....

Background No Arabic validated scale is available to date to measure AI literacy. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of a first Arabic translation of the Artificial Intelligence Literacy Scale (AILS) among university students from four Arab countries (i.e. Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Palestine). Methods Online c...

Background: Feelings of unsafety, including fear of crime, uncertainty, or insecurity, can negatively impact individuals by reducing psychological well-being and worsening health. Validating a simple and cost-effective tool to assess the general feeling of unsafety in the Arabic-speaking population, primarily residing in the Middle-East and North-A...

Background Addressing knowledge and concerns related to corticosteroid is essential to enhance patient care, promote optimal utilization, and minimize their potential side effects. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess knowledge and attitudes regarding corticosteroid use among healthcare providers (HCPs) in the United Arab Emirat...

Background Postpartum psychosis (PP) is a psychological emergency requiring rapid intervention, hospitalization and psychiatric management. However, PP has been neglected in the postpartum literature. Understanding the detrimental consequences of childhood trauma across mother’s life span is crucial to prevent this serious condition. The study’s ob...

Background: The lack of sound measures to assess mentalising in Arabic-speaking adults is a significant gap that can substantially constrain understanding of the expression and difficulties in the mentalising processes across the lifespan in the Arab world, and of the cross-cultural. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the psychometric prope...

Background: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a highly prevalent psychological disorder with a frequent distribution among the general population and in primary care configurations. GAD-5 is one of the many present scales with little research on, but has the potential to orient clinical decisions due to its unique features. Validating a simple...

Background Due to the elevated global prevalence of its consumption, and the detrimental health effects it can have, CUD should receive a great deal of attention from clinicians and the research community in Arab countries as an area of concern. To help advance the field, this study aimed to translate the Caffeine Use Disorder Questionnaire (CUDQ)...

Background Acknowledging the increasing worry over climate change and its psychological effects, the aim of this research is to clarify the dynamics between religiosity, climate anxiety and death anxiety, seeking to figure out the way religiosity mitigates the psychological effects of existential anxieties and climate related anxiety. Methods Usin...

Background: Research suggests that some people believe excessive happiness can lead to negative consequences, based on cultural beliefs and empirical evidence. The fear of Happiness Scale (FHS) was developed to assess people aversion toward happiness. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the FHS in a sample...

Background: Public health experts currently agree that heated tobacco products (HTPs) pose a significant health risk for their consumers. The same concentrations and speed of delivery of nicotine found for HTPs and conventional combustion cigarettes make it necessary to consider the addictiveness of HTPs, and provide precise diagnostic instruments...

Background: Distress tolerance, defined as the capacity to endure and manage negative emotional states, is an important construct in comprehending various psychological conditions, including anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders. The Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) and its Short Form (DTS-SF) are widely used tools for measuring distress t...

Background The Nightmare Distress Questionnaire (NDQ), known and commonly used for its adequate psychometric properties, is the most widely used instrument for the measurement of nightmare distress. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of a newly translated Arabic version of the Nightmare Distress Questionnaire (NDQ-AV). Methods...

of experience, fears, barriers and adherence to insulin injection among the parents of early-diagnosed children with Diabetes. Pharmacy Practice. 2024 Jul-Sep;22(3):3015. Abstract Background: Regardless of the indisputable benefits of insulin therapy, initiating insulin for newly diagnosed type-1 children with diabetes might be intimidating for par...

of experience, fears, barriers and adherence to insulin injection among the parents of early-diagnosed children with Diabetes. Pharmacy Practice. 2024 Jul-Sep;22(3):3015. Abstract Background: Regardless of the indisputable benefits of insulin therapy, initiating insulin for newly diagnosed type-1 children with diabetes might be intimidating for par...

Background The use of ChatGPT among university students has gained a recent popularity. The current study aimed to assess the factors driving the attitude and usage of ChatGPT as an example of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) among university students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods This cross-sectional study was based on a pr...

Background: The use of ChatGPT among university students has gained a recent popularity. The current study aimed to assess the factors driving the attitude and usage of ChatGPT as an example of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) among university students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on a p...

Background: Corticosteroids (CS) are crucial for managing various medical conditions, but long-term use is associated with significant risks. Balancing the therapeutic benefits and potential hazards requires careful prescription and monitoring. This study explores Jordanian physicians' knowledge, experiences, and concerns regarding CS prescriptions...

Background Anxiety and depression are psychiatric disorders that often coexist and share some features. Developing a simple and cost-effective tool to assess anxiety and depression in the Arabic-speaking population, predominantly residing in low- and middle-income nations where research can be arduous, would be immensely beneficial. The study aimed...

Introduction The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has quickly become a worldwide threat to human health and has significantly impacted people’s lives and changed their lifestyles and health behaviors. This study aims to assess lifestyle and health-related behaviors (LHBs) and associated factors among the general population in Lebanon durin...

Objectives This study aimed to assess fear of AI in relation with optimism and pessimism, along with the mediating effect of dark future Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted between June and December 2023, and enrolled 1849 participants from four Arab countries: Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Palestine. Results The results of the...

Background The Arab world is one of the global regions the most directly concerned by, and suffering from climate change’s adverse consequences. As such, there appears to be a strong need for an understanding of how Arab people may emotionally respond to climate change. Providing valid and reliable measures of climate change anxiety (CCA) can help...

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF), a potential trigger for stroke development, is considered a modifiable condition that can halt complications, decrease mortality, and prevent morbidity. The CHA₂DS₂-VASc and HAS-BLED scores are categorized as risk assessment tools used to estimate the risk of thrombosis development and assess major bleeding amon...

Background: The Lebanese ongoing crisis has exposed big challenges for the education system, including low teachers’ salaries and their desire to leave their jobs. Identifying key contributing factors to teacher turnover intention may help policymakers develop and implement appropriate and informed retention strategies aiming at preserving the stru...

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a critical issue in the Arab world, exacerbated by the region's socioeconomic challenges and patriarchal societal structures. There is a pressing need for validated tools to measure abuse accurately among Arab-speaking women. This study aims to validate an Arabic translation of the Composite Abuse Scale...

Stroke is a global public health concern, contributing to high rates of morbidity and mortality. In Syria, the current conflict and associated challenges have had a profound impact on healthcare infrastructure, including education and awareness programs related to stroke. An essential aspect of preventing stroke is the awareness of individuals. The...

The interplay between insomnia and PTSD symptoms remains misunderstood, and seems to be influenced by other factors like individual resilience. Our study examined the moderating role of resilience in the relationship between insomnia and PTSD symptoms among a sample of Lebanese adolescents, in the aftermath of the 2023 earthquake. This cross sectio...

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of an Arabic version of the Affective Lability Scale in its short form (ALS-18) within an Arabic-speaking sample. Particularly, the concurrent validity, sex invariance and factorial structure were examined. Methods: The total sample of this cross-sectional study consiste...

Background Physical comparison may be a factor in body dissatisfaction and related issues, like eating disorders and depression. The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised (PACS-R) is a scale developed to assess the frequency of physical comparison. Because there is no validated scale for body comparison in Arabic, this study aims to address...

Background: The urge to be valued and to value others is known as mattering, and it is essential to children, adolescents, and college students' development of psychological health and wellbeing. Even with its significance, a lot of teenagers believe they are insignificant to their community. This study's objective was to examine, among a sample of...

Objectives: Influenza A (H1N1) virus can provoke severe illness or even death in people with underlying medical conditions. This study is particularly important in Lebanon due to the suboptimal influenza vaccination rates, especially among high-risk groups and individuals with low income. We conducted this study to investigate influenza vaccine acc...

Background Through the years, studying negative behaviors of the worldwide population seized the spotlight from many researchers who focused on building scales in order the measure the level of worries, fear and even depression of such stressed individuals. By definition, “Future anxiety” (FA) is fueled by negative thoughts leading to intense fear...

Background: Anti-viral medications are among the treatment options for coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) management although they are still not FDA approved for coronavirus treatment. We conducted the study to assess the efficacy, and safety of favipiravir versus symptomatic management in patients with COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectio...

Background: The field of autism research in adults has not yet emerged in Arab countries, which is in part due to the lack of valid, reliable autism measures. The objectives of this study were to assess the psychometric properties of the abridged version of the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ-28) in a sample of non-clinical Arabic-speaking adults. Met...

Background: To our knowledge, there is currently no valid instrument available in the Arabic language to measure the social pain construct. In addition, we could find no previous studies that evaluated social pain in Arabic-speaking individuals of Arab origin. This is a clear gap, especially given the evidence that emotional responses to social rej...

Background: While self-report questionnaires measuring psychotic experiences (PEs) in community individuals have recently been made available in the Arabic language, their length may be a barrier to PEs assessment in settings in lower-to-middle income Arab countries, that often operate under severe resources constraints. The purpose of the present...

Background The study aimed to assess medication adherence among Jordanian patients with dyslipidemia, in addition to evaluating the impact of health literacy, health well-being, and doctor-patient communication on medication adherence in this population. Methods An observational cross-sectional study was conducted between March to July 2023. A con...

Background Purpose in life is recognized as a protective factor linked to an individual’s ability to thrive, supporting positive youth development and overall psychological well-being. The main goal of our study is to translate and validate the Claremont Purpose Scale (CPS) into the Arabic language, expanding its usefulness and contributing to a be...

Introduction Stroke, a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally, demands heightened awareness and knowledge for effective preventive strategies and tailored response. Sudan is classified as a low income country with a low rate of literacy, lack of knowledge, and awareness about diseases. Thus, this study aimed to assess stroke awareness an...

Background Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a new diagnosis added to the DSM-5 characterized by pathological eating habits without body image disturbances. Previous findings demonstrated a general association between high levels of perfectionism and low levels of self-esteem in association with general eating disorders. However,...

Background Young adults are in a constant phase of realizing their meaning in life while being in a constant pursuit of meaning. Meaning in life is a subjective, personal construct related to the perception of one’s own life. Considering that there are no measures that study this construct within the Arab context, this study aimed to examine the ps...

Background:Psychologic flexibility, integral to mental wellbeing, has gained popularity for its role in fostering adaptive coping mechanisms. However, research on this subject in the Middle Eastern population, particularly among adolescents, is limited. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the Psy-Flex...

Background Physical comparison may be a factor in body dissatisfaction and related issues, like eating disorders and depression. The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised (PACS-R) is a scale developed to assess the frequency of physical comparison. Because there is no validated scale for body comparison in Arabic, this study aims to address...

Objective Intuitive eating is an eating behavior that has recently come to use mainly in the young population. Knowing that the Lebanese cultural diet differs from other countries, the purpose of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between self-esteem, interoceptive awareness, and motivation for healthy eating in a sample of Le...

Introduction The majority of people experience anger at some point in their lives when confronted with unpleasant situations. In social settings, anger can lead to aggressive and hostile in the absence of adequate social competences. Our study aims to examine the moderating role of perceived social competences in the association between psychologic...

Background The emotional bond that a mother senses to her infant is essential to their social, emotional, and cognitive development. Understanding the level of mother-infant bonding plays an imperative role in the excellence of care. However, in Lebanon, there is a paucity of information about mother-infant bonding in the postpartum period. Given t...

Background: Intrusive thoughts represent undesirable cognitive activity that can cause distress, and occurs in individuals with and without psychological disorders. In order to deal with unwanted interrupting thoughts, individuals might consciously stop the flow of such cognitions in an attempt to stop through suppression, or unconsciously avoid in...

Background Anxiety, characterized by an unpleasant state of anticipatory unease, manifests in approximately 19% of adolescents and children within the Lebanese population. The diagnostic challenge in pediatric populations often stems from parental reluctance to acknowledge potential mental health concerns. Various screening instruments, including t...

Background There is a lack of measures and data on interpersonal mindfulness from non-Western cultures, which can hinder advances in our understanding of the construct, its conceptual representation, and its effects on human connection and relationships within different cultural settings. To fill this gap and help spark future research in this area...

COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in short-term and long-term health, economic, and social repercussions since its outbreak in December 2019. More research is required to determine how the pandemic impacts various segments of the population. Preliminary research suggests that COVID-19 impacts menstrual cycles in different ways. The primary objective o...

Background: Anxiety and depression are psychiatric disorders that often coexist and share some features. Developing a simple and cost-effective tool to assess anxiety and depression in the Arabic-speaking population, predominantly residing in low- and middle-income nations where research can be arduous, would be immensely beneficial. The study aime...

Background Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been a widespread topic of scientific research and discussion among individuals and institutions over the last years, giving room for debate concerning its measurement and applications. One of the shortest, simplest, most economical and increasingly used self-report measures is the Brief Emotional Intellig...

Objective The current study examines the mediating effect of social support and body appreciation between child abuse and disordered eating symptoms among Lebanese adolescents. Methods This study, involving 403 participants, was cross-sectional and conducted between August and Septem-ber 2022. Lebanese adolescents from all of Lebanon's governorates...

Background: Meta-analytic results have revealed a significant influence of stress on a wide array of psychological and behavioral markers, underscoring its considerable clinical importance. Providing a simple and cost-effective tool assessing stress for the Arabic-speaking population, predominantly residing in low- and middle-income nations, where...