Sawssan R Ahmed

California State University, Fullerton | CSUF · Department of Psychology

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), or heart diseases, are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality nationwide. Separate bodies of research indicate that Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) individuals and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) demonstrate high risk for CVD and report greater levels of intersectional microaggressions compared...

Since Arab origin migrants began arriving in the United States in the 1880s, their experiences have always included an important intergenerational component. Originating from collectivistic cultures which consider family as a central and foundational force, Arab Americans often adhere to a strong sense of deference to family over individual needs a...

BACKGROUND Postpartum depression and anxiety are the two most common perinatal mental health disorders, with prevalence rates higher among women living in the Middle East than in most western countries. The negative outcomes associated with postpartum depression and anxiety are profound and include less responsive parenting and compromised infant a...

Background Postpartum depression and anxiety are the 2 most common perinatal mental health disorders, with prevalence rates higher among women living in the Middle East than in most Western countries. The negative outcomes associated with postpartum depression and anxiety are profound and include less responsive parenting and compromised infant and...

Objective: Previous minority stress scholarship has investigated racism as both a constituent to stress and as an independent psychosocial stressor. It is generally understood that experiences of racism operate differently to affect mental health outcomes compared to general life stress. Racism is consistently implicated in poor psychological healt...

Background & objective: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused widespread psychological distress. The aims of the study were a) to assess mental health symptoms experienced by expatriate hospital staff and b) to determine the impact of staff wellbeing interventions specific to pandemic related stress. Methods: The study was...

Background Pregnancy is governed by multiple molecular and cellular processes, which might influence pregnancy health and outcomes. Failure to predict and understand the cause of pregnancy complications, adverse pregnancy outcomes, infant’s morbidity and mortality, have limited effective interventions. Integrative multi-omics technologies provide a...

Due to the lack of research on the adverse impact of acculturative stress on the mental health, the current study examined the associations between acculturative stress and post-migration mental health outcomes among 219 Iraqi refugee women resettled in San Diego, California. Mental illness, trauma history, and acculturative stress were measured an...

Non invasive prenatal Testing (NIPT) is changing the practice of prenatal diagnosis worldwide. It provides high sensitivity and specificity in screening for common aneuploidies. As a result, it has reduced the number of invasive procedures, thereby reducing their associated risk of pregnancy miscarriage. NIPT is based on the detection and analysis...

Although bullying of American Muslim adolescents is on the rise, there is little understanding of the complexities of their bullying experiences. The pervasiveness of bullying places Muslim (the usage of the term “Muslim” refers to American Muslims, unless otherwise noted) youth at risk for poor mental health and increased engagement in risky behav...

The following is a commentary on “Ethical Considerations for Psychologists Providing Treatment for Arab Americans (Cho in press). Cho (in press) brings to light important issues on providing ethical treatment with the Arab American community. However, there is currently no formal mechanism to identify the number of Americans of Arab descent; thus i...

The ecosystems framework is relevant to social work because it helps to envision a better fit between clients and their environments by improving the quality of transactions across different ecological systems. This approach can be useful to understanding the experiences of Muslims living in America, and is consistent with Islam’s emphasis on perso...

Sociocultural factors were examined in relationship to parent-therapist agreement on beliefs about the etiology of mental health problems in a sample of youth receiving outpatient mental health services (n = 277 parents). When examined individually, racial/ethnic match was unrelated, but higher parental affinity to mainstream American culture, high...

Little is known about patterns of alcohol consumption, cigarette and water-pipe smoking in Arab American college students, nor any related socio-demographic and cultural factors. Alcohol, cigarette and water-pipe smoking rates were examined, in addition to demographic and cultural factors associated with use. The participants (n=126) were Arab Amer...

This study examined the associations of prenatal psychosocial factors, including depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, trauma exposure including intimate partner violence, perceived stress, and social support, with perceived postpartum health status. Low-income Latinas (N = 203) were recruited from two health plans within th...

Positive effects of different dimensions of religiousness (including private, public and familial) on well-being as well as the stress buffering effects of religiousness have been documented. However, relatively little research has explored how these different facets of religiousness are related to psychological well-being in at-risk adolescents. T...

Despite evidence towards the risk for discrimination and acculturative stress that Arab American adolescents may face, the link between socio-cultural adversities and psychological well-being in this population has not been established. This study examined the role of socio-cultural adversities (discrimination and acculturative stress) and cultural...

This study assessed the course of perinatal depression among 210 Latinas who were and were not affected by intimate partner violence (IPV) and identified associated psychosocial factors. Peak depression prevalence occurred prenatally among 45.7% of IPV-exposed and 24.6% of non-IPV-exposed Latinas. At each assessment, depression was significantly hi...

Health care providers are advised to refer abused women to needed community services. However, little is known about abused women's perceived need for services, particularly among Latina women. We examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and perceived needs for legal, social, and job services among a prospective cohort of 2...

Background: While depressive symptoms have been extensively studied among pregnant women, few investigations have examined the roles perceived stress and trauma history in health status and depressive symptoms among low-income, ethnic women during early pregnancy. The current prospective study investigated socio-demographic factors (i.e. education,...

Background: Maternal stress and exposure to intimate partner (IPV) violence has been linked to both negative maternal and infant physical and mental health outcomes. However psychosocial resources including social support and a sense of mastery may ameliorate the deleterious effects of maternal stress and IPV on maternal health. The study examined...

The present study examined racial differences in the relationship between exposure to community violence and public and private religiosity in predicting externalizing problems among at-risk emerging adults. Participants were 178 African American and 163 European American emerging adults at risk for exposure to community violence. Exposure to commu...

Incidents of racism affecting Arab Americans have markedly increased since September 11, 2001 and the subsequent involvement of the U.S. in the Middle East. Arab American adolescents may be deleteriously affected by these incidents. However, psychological and socio-cultural factors that might be more pronounced in Arab American adolescents by virtu...

Typescript. Thesis (M.A.)--Wayne State University, 2002. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-51).