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Background: Providing care for people with dementia incorporates a level of burden which can affect quality of life for both the caregiver and the recipient of care. This study measures the level of burden experienced by Jordanian caregivers for people with dementia and explore related predictors. Methods: Through a cross‐sectional survey, participants were invited through convenience sampling to participate in a structured interview. Results: A total of 406 participants completed the survey. According to Zarit Burden Interview, the mean burden score of the sample was 26.2 (SD = 16.2). This score falls under the mild to moderate burden level. Older age of the patient, severe dementia, lower number of caregivers, if the caregiving negatively affected family relations, and if the caregiving negatively affected jobs, were significant predictors of burden. Conclusion: Caregivers in the current study reported no burden to a minimum burden. This result does not mean that these caregivers have no or minimal stress or that they do not have psychological needs; on the contrary, these results call for more attention to providing extra psychological and emotional support to caregivers of patients with dementia in order to decrease the burden level and maintain their efforts in caregiving. Future studies are required to discern the shape and context of unmet caregiver needs, assessment, and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Anaemia is associated with negative outcomes for both mothers and infants. Better understanding of its consequences could lead to improved guidelines for screening and treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate anaemia in pregnancy and adverse maternal and fetal outcomes among pregnant women in Oman. Methods: This retrospective study examined the medical records of women who gave birth at a university hospital in Oman over a 3-year period. Chi-squared tests were used for data analysis. Results: A total of 723 pregnant women were included, with 62.8% diagnosed with anaemia. Anaemia was significantly associated with preterm birth (P=0.037), low birth weight (P=0.009), intrauterine growth restriction (P=0.002) and postpartum heamorrhage (P=0.019). Conclusions: Anaemia is a significant health concern for pregnant women in Oman. Further research will provide more data on its effects, informing targeted interventions and policy enhancements. Implications for practice: Early antenatal screening, targeted iron supplementation, nutritional education, appropriate treatment and active management during birth would help address this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of individuals with dementia is on the rise, highlighting the need to create effective educational methods that can improve nursing students' understanding and attitude toward this group of people who require special care. Explore the effectiveness of introducing a new curricular course in improving nursing students' knowledge of and attitudes toward people living with dementia and the provision of care for them. A pretest – posttest quasi-experimental design was used. After the introduction of dementia lectures, both study groups had a significant improvement in knowledge and attitude toward people living with dementia (P ≤.05). Adding clinical experience did not significantly enhance knowledge. It improved attitudes, but the result was not statistically significant (P >.05). The introduction of a new curricular course had a positive impact on the knowledge of and attitudes of nursing students toward people living with dementia. These findings emphasize the importance of incorporating dementia-focused education to enhance the quality of care provided by future nursing professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although breakfast skipping among university students is a significant concern, its prevalence and the contributing factors among university students have received little attention in the literature. This study aims to determine the prevalence of skipping breakfast among Jordanian university students and examine the associated factors and variations in rates of skipping breakfast by day of the week. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate students between March and May 2022 through a self-questionnaire. A convenience sample of 891 students was chosen at four Jordanian public universities. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The prevalence of skipping breakfast among university students was 66%. The reasons for skipping breakfast were having no time due to oversleeping and having no feeling of hunger (59% for both), followed by having no energy to prepare the breakfast and making no difference (49% and 48%), and not being able to afford to eat or buy breakfast (19%). There is a strong correlation between eating fast food and skipping breakfast. With whom the student eats breakfast is significantly associated with breakfast skipping, revealing that the highest percentages of skipping occur with friends. About 63% of students skipped breakfast through university days compared with 37% on the weekend, while 37% of them had breakfast through university days compared with 67% on the weekend. Conclusions: A high percentage of university students in Jordan skip breakfast. More attention should be paid to correlating factors and developing interventions to help students adhere to the breakfast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With an increase in elderly people, it is essential to address the issue of cognitive impairment and support healthy aging. This study aimed to assess cognitive impairment and factors associated with it among older adults. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in different catchment areas within the Jerash governorate in the north of Jordan. The Elderly Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire (ECAQ) and a household face-to-face interview were used to collect data from 220 older adult participants aged 60 years and more. Descriptive statistics were conducted to describe the study variables. Correlation tests were applied to find associations between them. Logistic regression analysis was applied, with a minimum significance level (p < 0.05). Results: About 9.10% of the older adults had cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment was correlated with age, self-perceived health, hypertension, stroke, and mental illness. The primary predictors of cognitive impairment were age [odds ratio (OR) =1.07 (1.01-1.14), p = 0.001] and stroke [OR = 10.92 (1.44-82.85), p = 0.001]. Conclusions: While many factors were correlated with cognitive impairment, the strongest predictors of cognitive impairment were age and stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Healthy meals play an essential role in the healthy physical and mental development of adolescents. Breakfast at home is associated with improved nutritional choices, and skipping breakfast is detrimental. This study assessed prevalence of skipping breakfast at home among adolescent students in the Badia Region of Jordan, identifying the reasons and characteristics associated with such behavioural choice. Methods: A cross-sectional survey among adolescent students (aged 13-16 years, in 8th-9th grades) from six public schools in Badia Region, Mafraq Governorate, Jordan, was conducted through self-administered questionnaire from February to March 2022. Results: Results showed that 68.1% of 552 student participants regularly skipped breakfast at home (72.4% boys vs. 61.3% girls; p=0.007). Among those who regularly skipped breakfast, three main rationales for this choice were not feeling hungry (5.3%), lack of time (2.7%), and lack of appetite (3.5%). Conclusion: The prevalence of skipping breakfast at home among adolescents in Badia Region was high for various reasons, including lack of time, not feeling hungry, seeking to manage weight, and insufficient knowledge on the importance of healthy breakfast. Therefore, understanding the reasons and factors that contribute towards breakfast skipping may help in solving the problem, underscoring that positive beliefs should be reinforced in schools, with parents encouraging adolescents to eat healthy breakfast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explored symptom clusters in a heterogenous sample that includes all age groups, and all types of cancer being treated with chemotherapy. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The sample comprise 393 cancer patients with a mean age of 52.1 years (SD 13.9). The most prevalent symptoms were tiredness (78.9%), lack of energy (71.8%), and irritability (66.9%) and the most distressing symptom was lack of appetite. Four clusters of the symptom experience: chemotherapy-related, psychological, fatigue and pain, and gastrointestinal symptoms, regardless of the dimension used, were identified. The content and number of symptoms within each cluster using the distress dimension were slightly different from the occurrence dimension. The findings call for an early comprehensive assessment and treatment of symptoms for patients undergoing chemotherapy. Also, healthcare providers especially nurses need to thoroughly assess and manage these symptoms to ease patients' experience, enhance their compliance and improve their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public awareness and attitudes toward cancer and cancer patients are highly important in enhancing the effectiveness of cancer screening and early diagnosis programmes. This study aimed to explore the public attitudes toward cancer and cancer patients in Jordan. Method: A cross-sectional design was used to conduct this online survey study in Jordan between March 20th and April 20th 2020.The sample was conveniently selected, and 1157 participants were included from the public. The Public Attitudes toward Cancer Questionnaire was employed. Results: Descriptive statistics, unpaired t-test, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression were utilized. The mean age was 44.2 years (SD = 20.1), and 53% were female. The total mean attitude score was 38.2 (SD = 4.3). Based on the results, having a family member or a friend with cancer (P = 0.003), willingness to be informed about cancer diagnosis (P = 0.001), informing a friend about cancer diagnosis (P = 0.021), and willingness to participate in screening and early detection programmes (P < 0.001) were significant predictive positive attitudes towards cancer and cancer patients. In addition, being married predicted more negative attitudes compared with being single (P = 0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that Jordanians had positive attitudes toward cancer and cancer patients and most were willing to be informed about cancer diagnosis. This calls for healthcare providers to adopt shared decision models when devising health care plans for cancer patients, with more involvement on the parts of both patients and family members rather than adopting a paternal approach. Policy makers and managers should consider positive attitudes when developing healthcare programmes to enhance public participation in early cancer detection and screening programmes so as to reduce cancer mortality and morbidity rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the introduction of numerous guidelines and pharmacological interventions to manage cancer pain, poor assessment and under-medication remain common. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of cancer pain and the adequacy of its management in Jordan. Method: A convenience sample of 162 cancer patients from two hospitals participated in a cross-sectional survey using an Arabic version of the Brief Pain Inventory-short form (BPI). Results: 73.3% of the patients had pain severe enough to merit rating on the BPI.The mean of the worst pain scores in the past 24 hours was high at 7.5 out of 10 (standard deviation (SD) 2.7). 31 % of patients with pain had not been treated for their pain, and the mean Pain Management Index score was -1.20 (SD 1.0). Conclusion: These cancer patients were experiencing high levels of pain, which was undertreated. Providing adequate pain management is a priority, hence more education, training, and resources are needed in Jordan to reduce cancer patients' suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study evaluates the epidemiology of headache and migraine among adolescents aged 12 to 15., Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted to collect and analyze data from students in grades 7-10 over the course of one month, using a simple random sampling method. The overall number of participants in this study was 692, with an average age of 13.9 years (SD = 1.3). Descriptive measures and Fisher's exact test were computed. Multivariate regression was calculated to assess the predictors of headache and migraine. Findings . Approximately one-half of the students reported having headaches: tension-type headaches (10.3%), migraines (4.8%), and other headache types (31.5%). Moreover, girl students in the age group of 14-15 reported more headaches and migraines., Conclusion: The prevalence of headache and migraine in Jordan is high and increasing as students grow older. Health education programs led by school nurses and other healthcare practitioners are urgently needed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Mohammed Albashtawy et al.)