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Background: Adolescence is a crucial life stage for the individual identity formation. The growing employment of social media and screen-exposure among teenagers and the concerning rise in suicide ideation rates in this susceptible group both suggested this study. Thus, we explored the association between adolescents' suicidal ideation and their daily social media screen-exposure. Methods: We surveyed 502 students, aged 13 to 19 years old, recruited in colleges and universities of Punjab, Pakistan. The survey was based on a 28-item self-reported questionnaire and demographic data collection. Results: Approximately 40% of adolescents reporting suicidal ideation showed an extended social media screen-exposure, as well as significant depressive feelings and problematic personality traits. In particular, suicidal ideation increased by 0.39 for each one-unit increase in screen-exposure time and levels of depression increased by 0.21 times by unit of screen-exposure. The correlation coefficients further indicated a moderate positive association between depression and suicidal thoughts as well as personality traits played as mediators between social media screen-exposure time and suicidal ideation among adolescents. Conclusion: Our study found a positive association, even if modest, between the use of social media screens and suicidal ideation among adolescents. This evidence may suggest to adopt specific strategies to address the use of media among youths and prevent mental disorders related to the prolonged and inappropriate use of digital technologies in those users with a vulnerable personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pakistani television dramas often depict scenes involving suicide that may affect the psychological wellbeing of viewers. We aimed to examine the effects of suicide depiction in Pakistani television dramas on their viewers. Methods: In April 2023, we searched the YouTube website for Urdu-language television dramas released between 2011 and 2022 that contained scenes of suicidal behaviours (both attempts and completed suicides) using the keywords 'suicide in Pakistani dramas'. Data extracted included details of the characters involved including age group, sex, role, occupation, religion, and marital status, as well as details of the suicidal behaviours including method, reason/trigger, and place of suicide. Results: In total, 49 incidents of suicidal behaviours from 46 characters in 40 Urdu-language television dramas were included in the analysis. Of the 40 dramas, 42.5% were released in 2021 and 2022, and 57.5% were released between 2011 and 2020. Among the 46 characters with suicidal behaviour, 50.0% were male, 54.3% were young adults, 52.2% were married, 26.1% were housewives, 100% were Muslim, and 34.8% were in a leading role. Of the 49 incidents of suicidal behaviour, 29 were suicide, 19 were suicide attempts, and one was homicide-suicide. Common methods of suicidal behaviour depicted were gun shooting (30.6%), wrist cutting (18.3%), self-poisoning (12.2%), and jumping from height (12.2%). Common reasons for suicidal behaviour were failure in love (24.4%), familial issues (24.4%), and others (26.5%); 69.4% of suicidal behaviour occurred in home. Conclusion: Television dramas with scenes involving suicidal behaviours may negatively affect the general population, particularly adolescents. These scenes should be censored to prevent imitation or identification among vulnerable young people. Television dramas should provide psychoeducational messages to promote help-seeking rather than suicide for emotional problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homicide-suicide is a tragic event characterized by multiple fatalities within the intimate relationships, familial bonds, and community networks. Our aim was to explore the extent of coverage of homicide-suicide cases in the newspaper reports delivered in Pakistan during the COVID-19 lockdown (March–August 2020). We conducted a quantitative content analysis of news- reports obtained from eight Pakistani newspapers published in English and Urdu languages and daily reviewed by the authors. A total of 50 news-reports have been selected and analyzed, documenting 107 deaths due to homicide-suicide incidents. The majority of these cases involved male perpetrators within family settings, such as parent-child and spousal/married couples, often attributed to factors such us familial discordance and poverty. Negligibly, reasons for homicide-suicides included mental health issues of the perpetrators. Gunshot wounds emerged as the most prevalent method of homicide-suicide. Given the familial backgrounds in most of cases, it is likely that they occurred within the domestic environments. These findings may suggest the need of specific family interventions across the country in order to prevent family discordances or cope with relevant issues within the families, as both may contribute to homicidal and suicidal incidents, either independently or concurrently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis article discusses the critical issues of mental health in Pakistan, highlighting the significant burden of mental disorders in the country, and limitations of mental health services which are under-addressed. In particular, the authors discuss the under-reporting of the epidemiological rates of mental disorders and the scarcity of mental health professionals and facilities, with only about 500 psychiatrists serving a population of over 244 million. Cultural stigma, economic challenges, and insufficient government funding exacerbate this critical scenario, all limiting access of population to mental health services. Despite some government initiatives and the involvement of Non-governmental Organizations, the mental health infrastructure remains inadequate to meet the demand for care. The authors recommend increasing governmental funding, expanding the mental health literacy in the general population, training healthcare providers, and integrating traditional healers into the formal mental health system to reduce stigma and improve access to care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicidal hanging is common in Pakistan and is considered a serious challenge globally. We conducted a content analysis of reports about suicidal hangings published in six English-language newspapers in Pakistan between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2022, employing a web-searching technique. 124 news reports were yielded; suicidal authors were males (68.5%), Muslims (69.4%), and unmarried (31.4%), aged 16- 30 years old. Ligatures employed in hanging suicides were ropes (28.2%), fabrics (20.9%), and electric wires (20.1%). The most frequent leverage-points selected in suicides were ceiling fans (37%) followed by trees (11.2%). Familial discords (19.2%) and poverty (9.6%) were the leading risk factors for hanging suicide. Most of the suicides (58%) occurred equally in the spring (29%) and autumn (29%) months. These evidences suggest that psychological interventions on families are crucial. Also, dealing with poverty and other social consequences in Pakistan as in the rest of the world may probably reduce the rate of yearly suicides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of evidence regarding the rate of adherence to the World Health Organization (WHO) media guidelines of vernacular newspapers reporting on suicides in Pakistan. Also, the relevance of this report is based on the lack of official data regarding the number of suicides across the country. The aim of this study was to explore the rate of adherence to the WHO guidelines of two popular newspapers in reporting on suicides in Pakistan. We daily analysed the online version of two popular newspapers in Pakistan, the daily Jeejal (in Sindhi) and daily Jang (in Urdu), from 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022; we performed a content analysis of news reporting on national suicides and evaluated their rate of adherence to the WHO media guidelines. One hundred and seventy-three reports of suicides were identified and analysed; 84% of them reported the names of victims, 70% reported their age, and 46% included information regarding their occupation. Characteristics of suicide methods were reported in 87% of reports, reasons for suicide in 66%, as well as locations in 87%. In general, 84% of newspapers reported incomplete information regarding suicide prevention and help-seeking, so we may conclude they were not fully adherent to the WHO recommendations. This study indicates that national vernacular newspapers may improve their reporting on suicides and should revise their policy in order to be adherent to the WHO guidelines. Also, better and responsible reporting may provide an accurate epidemiological source regarding suicide where official data are missing at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have been conducted globally to assess the compliance level of newspapers with the World Health Organization's media guidelines for responsible suicide reporting. To identify and review such studies conducted in Muslim-majority countries between 2014 and 2022, we searched PubMed and Google Scholar databases. We identified 12 eligible studies from Pakistan (n  = 4), Bangladesh (n  = 2), Malaysia (n  = 1), Indonesia (n  = 1), Iraq (n  = 1), Iran (n  = 1), Nigeria (n  = 1), and Egypt (n  = 1). These studies indicated an overall lack of adherence to the guidelines. However, the level of nonadherence was particularly high in Pakistan. Effective suicide prevention programs may help in promoting responsible reporting of suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the features of homicide-suicide in Russia and Pakistan. To understand this, we conducted a content analysis of news reports about homicide-suicide published in Pakistani and Russian newspapers between March 2020 and May 2023. We identified 35 and 104 homicide-suicide cases in Pakistani and Russian media, respectively. Men were three to five times more likely to commit homicide-suicides than women (3.16: 1 in Russia; 4.83: 1 in Pakistan). Accounting for over 65.73% of all homicide-suicides, spousal homicide-suicides and filicide-suicide were the most common homicide-suicides in both regions. Filicide-suicides were more often done by Russian women and extra-family homicide-suicides by Pakistani women. Reasons for homicide-suicides in Pakistani women were divorce or separation and in Russian women – mental disorders. With the difference of homicide in the victims, Pakistani victims were aged 15–30 years, while Russian were 31–45 years and 46 years and older. There were more similarities in homicide-suicides than differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the recent phenomenon of English code-mixing in Sindhi language newspapers, the content analysis of Daily Kawish newspaper of Pakistan, interviews, and survey were applied. The English words were taken from news, and an attempt was madetofind their Sindhi alternatives. The majority of themhad alternative Sindhi wordsbut were not used in the news. Theinterviews regarding code-mixing were taken from reporters. The 50 copies of questionnaire were distributed among students from Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad. The majority of the respondents (28, 28 & 34) were alternate-day readers, read newspaper to receive news and updates, and consume one an hour on newspaper reading respectively, majority of them were satisfied with the language style of newspaper, and 31 as the majority of the respondents felt disturbance in understanding what they read when they find borrowed words amidst reading newspaper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The studies of newspaper media on women issues havewidely been carried out across the globe, but the question of how prominently are those issues covered in press media is left unanswered. To secure the answer to this question, this study was carried out doing quantitative content analysis of daily Jeejal newspaper. The six-month coverage of the said issues (extending from July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020) was examined to this end. In total, 228 news related to women issues having an average ratio of 38 news a month were found in the newspaper, and the majority (130) of those were about honour killing and rape issues collectively. In terms of the placement of news, the majority (115) of the news were placed in the inside pages following 63 and 50 news placed in the front and back page of the newspaper respectively. Henceforth, the average rate of front-page news has stood 10.5 each month that is too insufficient as compared to note how serious are the issues prevailing across the country. Besides, the same statistics in terms of the average of inside pages news was 19 news each monthwhich is also insufficient because the inside pages contain different pages other than front and back pages. Thus, prominence in this study was categorized into two portions, frequency and the placement of news. Giving prominence to the news by frequency, the newspaper has succeeded but it has failed giving prominence to the news by placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgender people are the most overlooked and deprived communities globally, especially in a conservative society like Pakistan. Although the government of Pakistan has passed specific laws to impart equal rights to transgender community, peoples; conceptions about transgender remain unchanged. The literature shows mush less attention has been provided to transgender participation and media representation in the political affairs of democratic Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to explore the media presentation of the political involvement of transgender community in Pakistani political sphere. Using news stories data of the daily Dawn (elite English Liberal newspaper) and the daily Jung (elite Urdu newspaper) from January to July 2018 and applying content analysis applying the lens of framing theory, the authors empirically investigate transgender community's political representation in the elite print media of Pakistan. The authors find that the media treatment of transgender people profoundly influences peoples' thoughts and perceptions about them. Media treat transgender people as abnormal with no space to become equal citizens with usual participation in every walk of life especially the political life and participation in political affairs of the country. The paper fills the gap in the research literature by providing insight on the social and political status of transgender in Pakistani media which is fairly marginalized. Media in Pakistan is adding to the marginalization of the vulnerable transgender community. This work would also guide Pakistani media to improve reporting quality for transgender community of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Media is situated within, and fully interwoven with, many other social practices, to the extent where crime and media representations are inseparable'. Criminologist must, however, be alert to the ways in which media create perceptions in order to understand that things are not as always as they are presented. Criminologist has to be a well-versed scholar on the subject of media practices to tread fuzzy area between the news and propaganda and to identify the instances of media coverage of crime as the major culprit for the increase in crime through its redefinition; and for the increase in pessimism through projecting only dark things in much darker light as good news is bad news for media. Awareness of media practices helps criminologist to understand the reasons for separate feeds so can be used for different content of several newspapers to realize truth; and to understand the failure of media to publicize moral dilemma because of its failure to offer rational and duly informed societal response. Criminologist is to be media scholar to know that news is not necessarily about events those transcend crimes and there does exists the stand-off between moral panic and realism and separation of cause and effect and the addition of newness to news and exceptionalization of crime; and crime representation can be for the marginalization of some groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan came into being on the basis of two nation theory. There are number of subjects that are offered as compulsory at the secondary level of education. Islamic education is one of the subject that is compulsory at school level in Pakistan. Being a religious subject for Muslim students studying in Pakistani schools, it is considered to be important in character building. In this study, an attempt has been made to analyze the effectiveness of Islamic education in the educational system and gauge students’ perspectives on Islamic education as a character building tool. Survey method has been used to seek the objectives of the study. The population of the study includes students of secondary schools in District SBA. The Data has been collected through personal visits by giving questionnaires to students. The Percentage has been used in the analysis of the data. Major findings of the study suggest that Islamic education helps the students to become good citizen and plays a positive role as agents of social change in their local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) has been widely adopted by faculty members and students for education, study and research. It has changed the environment of Information. Higher education had a trend of non-adoption of technologies. However since the last few decades this trend has changed since almost every educational institution of higher learning uses electronic information sources for study, teaching and research. The present study is an attempt to analyze the use of Electronic Information Sources (EIS) by the faculty members of University of Peshawar, Pakistan and to find out their EIS preferences, EIS use experience, e-journal use experiences and preferences. The study is a descriptive survey designed to obtain data which described available trends in the use of electronic information sources by faculty members in the University of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. A self-constructed questionnaire was administered to a sample of 285 faculty members working in the University of Peshawar. Two hundred and thirty five (235) questionnaires were returned back dully filled in with a response rate of 82.45%. Using SPSS-19, the data was analyzed using descriptive feature of statistical analysis. Cross tables were drawn to analyze whether faculty members' electronic source preferences varied by designation, gender, age and number of publications in the last five years. Results of the study showed that Lecturers followed by Assistant Professors used EIS more than Associate Professors and Professors. Thus increased age and academic designation meant decreased frequency of EIS use. Those who had more publications to their names in the last five years were more experienced in using EIS than those who had few. It was observed that EIS use experience of the respondents was moderate and significant. One of the major findings of the study was that majority of the faculty members preferred e-journals than print journals. The study revealed that faculty members use EIS quite often. EIS has become a significant information assent for faculty members in the present world of information explosion. It can impact positively on educational development in Pakistan if they are used in a proper way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Suicide is a social relevant issue and a leading cause of deaths in the world; it has been reported that COVID-19 has significantly increased the rate of suicide worldwide. This study aimed to review media reporting on suicide cases occurred in Pakistan during the COVID-19 lockdown., Subjects and Methods: A content analysis has been performed considering the electronic version of the daily Kawish newspaper reporting suicide cases from March to August 2020 in Pakistan., Results: A total of 213 news regarding suicide in Pakistan during the lockdown period were identified. Suicide committers reported age ranging 19-30 years old, and the majority of them were males (74%). Suicide methods ranged as following: harmful practices (79%) > hanging (37%) > self-poisoning (28%). Factors associated to the risk of suicide were: familial discords (36%), poverty (21%) and joblessness (14%)., Conclusion: Findings of this study have shown that pandemic lockdown in Pakistan have increased the number of factors, such as family issues, unemployment and poverty, leading to suicide especially in young males. The report of suicides may have an impact on the public general opinion and a responsible news-reporting is needed by press agencies and media.