Rabih Riad Hallit

• Doctor of Medicine
• Professor at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik

Breast cancer patients face an elevated risk of infectious disease- related mortality due to immunosuppressive treatments and disease-related immune dysfunction. However, the specific risk factors influencing infection-related mortality in this population remain poorly understood. This study aims to identify key clinical and demographic factors ass...

Objectives The primary objective of the current study was to evaluate the correlation between noise-induced annoyance and the cognitive performance within the Lebanese adolescent population and the moderating effect of psychosocial work aspects-namely effort, reward, and overcommitment- in this association. Methods An anonymous online survey was c...

Background Although gratitude is a culturally-sensitive construct, it has yet received limited research attention in Arab countries, hence hindering the understanding of its features, correlates, and cross-cultural specificities. To fill this gap, we sought to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the 6-item Gratitude Ques...

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 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 intrusive thoughts, individuals might consciously attempt to halt the flow of these cognitions through suppression or unconsciously avoid them automatica...

Background: Regular physical activity benefits both physical and mental health. Yet, physical inactivity remains widespread, including in Lebanon, with significant health consequences. While objective and subjective tools for measuring physical activity exist, self-report questionnaires like the Physical Activity Index (PAI) are practical and cost-...

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 o...

Background: The current study aimed to investigate the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Arabic adaptation of InCharge's Financial Distress/Financial Well-Being Scale, along with a new single-item measure to assess financial stress (i.e., the Single-Item Financial Stress scale, SIFiS) among Lebanese adults. Methods: In this cross-s...

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...

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...

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...

Oesophageal aspergillosis is a rare occurrence primarily documented in hematologic malignancies, and only rarely occurring among patients with solid tumours. In this case report, we present the unique case of an 81-year-old Lebanese man who had a remarkable medical history, including four solid tumours. The patient sought medical attention due to d...

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 Listeria monocytogenes brain abscess is a rare phenomenon that is common in immunocompromised patients. Streptococcus equinus brain abscess has never been reported in the literature to our knowledge. In this case report, we describe a case of brain abscess secondary to Listeria monocytogenes and Streptococcus equinus in an immunocompeten...

Esophageal aspergillosis is a rare occurrence primarily documented in hematologic malignancies, and only rarely occurring among patients with solid tumors. In this case report, we present the unique case of an 81-year-old Lebanese man who had a remarkable medical history, including four solid tumors. The patient sought medical attention due to dysp...

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 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...

Social media platforms, including TikTok, have become influential sources of health information. However, they also present as potential sources for the spread of vaccine misinformation. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of measles-rubella (MR) vaccine-related contents on TikTok in Jordan and to analyze factors associated with vaccine...

Esophageal aspergillosis is a rare occurrence primarily documented in hematologic malignancies, and only rarely occurring among patients with solid tumors. In this case report, we present the unique case of an 81-year-old Lebanese man who had a remarkable medical history, including four solid tumors. The patient sought medical attention due to dysp...

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 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...

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...

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: Academic self-efficacy (ASE), the belief in one's ability to succeed in academic tasks, plays a crucial role in student motivation, learning, and performance. Reliable measurement of this construct is essential for identifying students' strengths and areas for improvement. This study aims to translate and validate the Academic Self-Effi...

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...

Esophageal aspergillosis is a rare occurrence primarily documented in hematologic malignancies, and only rarely occurring among patients with solid tumors. In this case report, we present the unique case of an 81-year-old Lebanese man who had a remarkable medical history, including four solid tumors. The patient sought medical attention due to dysp...

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: 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 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...

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...

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...

Introduction It is common for people to experience anxiety when contemplating their unknown future. Studies have shown that those who tend to worry more about their future are more likely to be intolerant of uncertainty. In order to study the way people from the Middle East tackle uncertainty, a valid and reliable scale is needed. In this context,...

The Arabic validated version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).

Background To better target the treatment of affective disturbances and improve the effectiveness of programs for prevention and intervention, the need for a reliable and valid measuring tool for the assessment of depression, anxiety, and stress among youth is notable. Therefore, the primary aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric...

Background Fear of Autonomous Robots and Artificial Intelligence is a novel concept introduced to measure how fearful individuals are about Artificial Intelligence and autonomous robots. This study aimed to measure the mediating effect of dark future, a measure of future anxiety, between personality traits and Fear of Autonomous Robots and Artifici...

Background The Impact of Event Scale-6 (IES-6) is a reduced version of the Impact of Event Scale – Revised, and has been developed to rapidly screen for PTSD. This study aimed to psychometrically evaluate and validate a new Arabic translation of the Impact of Event Scale − 6 on a sample of adults from the general population of Lebanon. Methods Par...

Artificial intelligence models, like ChatGPT, have the potential to revolutionize higher education when implemented properly. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing university students’ attitudes and usage of ChatGPT in Arab countries. The survey instrument “TAME-ChatGPT” was administered to 2240 participants from Iraq, Kuwait, Egy...

Background: Research on dysmorphic concerns (DC) in Arabic-speaking contexts is hampered by the lack of validated tools. Because DC are culturally-dependent, psychometrically sound measures are needed at the national level to closely and accurately investigate the construct in specific societies and populations. The purpose of the current research...

Background: Reflecting on the existing literature on suicidal ideation and Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), this article investigates the complex relationship between them, hypothesizing about the possibility of dysmorphic concerns, being a mediator linking ARFID to suicidal ideation. Methods: Using a snowball sampling approach,...

Background Given their clinical significance and impact on stress response and their potential malleability, resilience and posttraumatic growth (PTG) should receive greater attention as relevant constructs in clinical and research practice in the Arab context. We aimed through the present study to test the psychometric properties of Arabic transla...

Background: Exploring the levels of death anxiety and factors that can undermine its impact are crucial for the Lebanese nationals. Even though studies have shown various relationships between death anxiety and several factors, very few to no research has been done to show the relationship of death anxiety, gratitude and optimism. Therefore, the ob...

Background Despite the high clinical relevance of the perfectionism construct as a transdiagnostic contributor to different mental health symptoms, and the recent burgeoning of research in this area across cultures in the past two decades, the Arab region was one of the cultural settings experiencing the slowest progress in this line of research. T...

Background: Sexual satisfaction (SS) is an essential component of quality of life. There is a scarcity of research about sexual satisfaction in Lebanon, a country where discussing sexual issues is still considered a taboo. The present study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of responses to the items in the Arabic version of the Sexual Sa...

Background: The Weinstein Noise Sensitivity Scale (NSS) is widely recognized as a prominent unidimensional self-reported questionnaire to measure noise sensitivity, which is regarded as the foremost subjective factor moderating the impact of noise on perceived levels of annoyance. In this current study, we conducted an examination of the psychometr...

Artificial intelligence models, like ChatGPT, have the potential to revolutionize higher education when implemented properly. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing university students’ attitudes and usage of ChatGPT in Arab countries. The survey instrument “TAME-ChatGPT” was administered to 2240 participants from Iraq, Kuwait, Egy...

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....

Introduction: The 9-item Body Dissatisfaction Subscale (BDS) of the Eating Disorder Inventory is one of the most used tools for assessing thinness-oriented body dissatisfaction in research and clinical practice. However, no validated Arabic version of this scale exists to date. In this study, we sought to validate this instrument in three samples o...

BACKGROUND Measles remains a significant global public health concern, emphasizing the importance of optimal vaccination coverage. Social media platforms, including TikTok, have become influential sources of health information, but they also present a potential source for vaccine misinformation spread. OBJECTIVE To assess the quality of Measles-Ru...

Introduction Adolescents react differently to challenging negative life events. Resilience, a dynamic characteristic of individuals, was studied to be a protective factor against such events. In order to study the resilience among Arabic-speaking adolescent populations, age-appropriate measures that are fully apprehended by younger respondents are...

Background: Despite the substantial clinical relevance of irritability in the development and maintenance of several mental disorders and its negative effects on functioning, no valid and reliable measures are available yet to identify the presence and consequences of irritability as a distinct construct among the Arabic-speaking populations. To br...

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based models hold the potential to transform higher education if adopted properly and ethically. A prime example is ChatGPT with earlier studies indicating its widespread adoption in academia and by university students. The current study aimed to identify the factors influencing the attitude towards ChatGPT and its usag...

Background: After the original 15-item Drive for Muscularity Scale developed by McCreary et al. in 2004, a more theoretically based scale that replicates the original DMS subscales with a better conceptual clarity and a shorter number of items, i.e., the DMS-9, has recently been developed by Chaba et al. in 2018. We sought to contribute to the lite...

Computers have become indispensable in daily activities. With this excess use of electronics, computer vision syndrome (CVS), a highly prevalent condition, is associated with various symptoms. Although, understanding the relation between CVS and mental health has been re-ported, it did not explore the impact of CVS on more than one psychological as...

Aim: To appraise Lebanese university students' knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in March and April 2020. A total of 402 students (67.9% women) from ten universities located in different Lebanese regions were recruited through convenient sampling...

Background: No epidemiological data is yet available on Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) in Arab countries, which may in part be due to the lack of measures available in Arabic language. This constitutes a major obstacle to further progress of our understanding of the nature, etiology, course, treatment, and prevention of ARFID, es...

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most frequent functional gastrointestinal disorders, but the condition is still underdiagnosed. The high of rate of unidentified IBS by patients can be related to different factors. The aim of this study is to assess the rate of unidentified IBS among Lebanese adults and investigate the role...

No epidemiological prevalence data regarding psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in children and adolescents are yet available for Arab countries. Providing age-appropriate questionnaires that are fully apprehended by younger participants can facilitate discussions on prodromal psychosis in both community and clinical settings. To address this gap an...

Background: ChatGPT is a conversational large language model that has the potential to revolutionize knowledge acquisition. However, the impact of this technology on the quality of education is still unknown considering the risks and concerns surrounding ChatGPT use. It is necessary to assess the usability and acceptability of this promising tool....

Objective: To evaluate the effect of depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, work fatigue, religiosity, and spirituality on quality of life (QOL) among family caregivers of people with mental Illness and those who care for family members without mental illness. Methods: A case-control study was conducted between July and September 2019 that enrolled...

Background: A large proportion of the population in Arab countries suffer from chronic diseases. According to the statistics by the Global Health Estimates, chronic illnesses contribute by 71% to total deaths in the Arab region. While chronic illnesses have been demonstrated to carry high levels of social stigma, it is only recently that little res...

Background: There is a lack of methodologically strong measure to assess perceived social support among Arabic-speaking populations. Our main objective was therefore to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic translation of the Multidimensional Social Support Scale (MSPSS) in a sample of Arabic-speaking Lebanese adults from the general pop...

Background Because general self-efficacy (GSE) and locus of control (LoC) interfere with many areas of life and affect numerous health aspects, high-quality measurements of these constructs as context variables for different research areas are a necessary requirement to advance our knowledge in this field and improve people's physical and mental he...

Background There is a lack of psychometrically sound measures to assess internalized weight and muscularity biases among Arabic-speaking people. To fill this gap, we sought to investigate the psychometric properties of Arabic translations of the Three-Item Short Form of the Modified Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS-3) and the Muscularity Bia...

Background: Although hospitalization can be a burdensome experience for all patients, research into the sources of this distress and potential protective factors has so far been scattered, specifically among the broad hospitalized population across all disease types and inpatient units. The present study explores the frequency and nature of the for...

Background: ChatGPT is a conversational large language model that has the potential to revolutionize knowledge acquisition. However, the impact of this technology on the quality of education is still unknown considering the risks and concerns surrounding ChatGPT use. It is necessary to assess the usability and acceptability of this promising tool....

Background: The concept of shame in Arab societies displays multiple differences when compared to Western societies in terms of nature, sources, types, and correlates. Surprisingly, we could not find any study investigating this increasingly important construct in Arab countries or the broad Arabic-speaking communities. This may likely be due to th...

Background: Being on the verge of a revolutionary approach to gathering information, ChatGPT (an artificial intelligence (AI)-based language model developed by OpenAI, and capable of producing human-like text) could be the prime motive of a paradigm shift on how humans will acquire information. Despite the concerns related to the use of such a prom...

Background: To date, the vast majority of research on disordered eating symptomatology and body image disturbances from the Arab world have been performed exclusively among women; and mainly used thinness-oriented measures that are not sensitive to detect muscularity-oriented symptoms, which are more evident in males. Therefore, the objective of o...

Improving knowledge and attitude towards MPOX, particularly among healthcare workers (HCWs) can be a valuable approach in public health preventive efforts aiming to halt MPOX virus spread. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of HCWs in Lebanon towards MPOX as well as to assess their conspiratorial attitude toward...

Background: The literature highly concentrates on disorders related to body image among women but only minimally when it comes to the male population; hence, in order to provide general practitioners, and primary care physicians in general, and psychiatrists in particular, with additional information concerning muscle dysmorphia among male universi...

Background: All available scales to screen for child abuse may be challenging to administer due to their length. Indeed, a higher number of items is associated with more administration time and less motivation to engage in responding. We aimed through this study to examine the psychometric properties of a brief Arabic version of the Child Abuse Sel...