Publications by authors named "Fatma Charfi"

We aimed to understand how risk (trauma history, health problems, financial problems, family problems) and protective (friend support, family support) factors influenced daily functioning (e.g., self-care, mobility, social participation) among Tunisian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, directly and through their impact on depression, with a focus on gender differences.

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Introduction: Sleep quality is a complex phenomenon with quantitative and subjective aspects that vary during adolescence. The prevalence of sleep disorders is not known in Tunisia due to the lack of validated tools.

Aim: To translate and validate the questionnaire Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) into Tunisian Arabic in middle school students.

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Miliary tuberculosis (TB) is a severe form of disseminated TB. In pediatrics, many cases are missed because the symptomatology of TB mimics common childhood diseases. We present the case of a 6-year-old girl with no remarkable history who had recurrent fever for 3 months.

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Aims: The present survey aims to assess the overall mood disorder prevalence and identify associated socio-demographic and clinical factors in a Tunisian community sample, with special attention to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Mood disorders are one of the leading causes of all non-fatal burdens of disease, with depression being at the top of the list. The COVID-19 pandemic may have increased the prevalence of mood disorders, especially in Low and Middle-income countries (LMICs) and in vulnerable populations.

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Objectives: Early diagnosis in Turner syndrome is desirable to optimize growth and puberty and yet, it is often made late. Here, we aim to identify age at diagnosis, clinical features at presentation and potential strategies to improve the care of TS girls.

Methods: Retrospective study, including patients from 14 care centers across Tunisia including neonatal and pediatric care units, adult endocrinology and genetics departments.

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Background: Tunisia is a lower-middle-income country located in North Africa with strengths and challenges to its mental health system.

Aims: We present an overview of available services, facilities, and human resources to offer mental health care in Tunisia.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study, where data for the year 2017 was collected between May 2018 and May 2019 by consulting stakeholders involved in the health field in Tunisia.

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The Covid-19 pandemic had a major psychosocial impact on the mental health of children and adolescents, especially when the childhas mental health problems. During containment, the healthcare structures were subject to a significant restriction of their activities. The child and adolescent psychiatry department of the Mongi Slim Hospital in Tunis has set up telephone follow-up for patients deemed to be at risk.

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Background: Training based on the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) is being increasingly adopted by countries to enhance non-specialists' mental health capacities. However, the influence of these enhanced capacities on referral rates to specialised mental health services remains unknown.

Aims: We rely on findings from a longitudinal pilot trial to assess the influence of mental health knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy on self-reported referrals from primary to specialised mental health services before, immediately after and 18 months after primary care physicians (PCPs) participated in an mhGAP-based training in the Greater Tunis area of Tunisia.

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Objectives: We describe the knowledge translation strategies in two projects and share lessons learned about knowledge sharing and uptake.

Methods: To generate findings for dissemination: (1) the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (RCI) project relied on a multiple case study design to document barriers and facilitators to implementing a community-led prevention strategy targeting Ebola virus disease; and (2) the Tunisia project used several designs to assess a mental health training's effectiveness, and a case study design to explore contextual factors that may influence anticipated outcomes.

Results: To share findings with participants, the RCI project relied on workshops and a pamphlet, and the Tunisia project relied on a structured half-day dissemination workshop and research summary.

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To address the rise in mental health conditions in Tunisia, a training based on the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Intervention Guide (IG) was offered to primary care physicians (PCPs) working in the Greater Tunis area. Non-specialists (such as PCPs)' training is an internationally supported way to target untreated mental health symptoms. We aimed to evaluate the programme's impact on PCPs' mental health knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and self-reported practice, immediately following and 18 months after training.

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Background: Primary care physicians (PCPs) working in mental health care in Tunisia often lack knowledge and skills needed to adequately address mental health-related issues. To address these lacunas, a training based on the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Intervention Guide (IG) was offered to PCPs working in the Greater Tunis area between February and April 2016. While the mhGAP-IG has been used extensively in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to help build non-specialists' mental health capacity, little research has focused on how contextual factors interact with the implemented training program to influence its expected outcomes.

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Cognitive remediation is today afforded a significant place in the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders. A hospital team, comprising in particular a nurse offering consultations in a child psychiatry unit in a public hospital in Tunis, shares its experience with regard to this technique which aims to restore impaired cognitive functions in order to improve the efficiency and quality of life of young patients.

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Background: Psychological factors and family environment may play a role in the pathogenesis and the persistence of atopic dermatitis (AD).

Aim: To evaluate the interactions between mothers and their children suffering from AD and to look for the presence of maternal depression and anxiety.

Methods: A sample of 24 children with AD and their mothers and 24 matched control dyads participated in the study.

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Article Synopsis
  • The Tunisian Ministry of Health, in partnership with various organizations, prepared a training program aimed at improving access to mental health services for primary care doctors in Greater Tunis.
  • The initial phase involved adapting a pre-existing training protocol to fit the local healthcare context, which included consultations with stakeholders and on-site observations.
  • The adaptation revealed not only necessary modifications to the training materials but also highlighted systemic issues that hinder effective mental health care, suggesting that addressing these barriers alongside training implementation could enhance mental health service delivery.
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Objective: Epigenetic hypothesis is one of the research pathways used to explain the complex etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. This review highlights the findings of recent studies in the field of epigenetics in ADHD.

Methods: An electronic literature search using Medline.

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Background: In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), addressing the high prevalence of mental disorders is a challenge given the limited number and unequal distribution of specialists, as well as scarce resources allocated to mental health. The Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) and its accompanying Intervention Guide (IG), developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), aim to address this challenge by training non-specialists such as general practitioners (GPs) in mental health care. This trial aims to implement and evaluate an adapted version of the mhGAP-IG (version 1.

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Background: Catatonia is one of the most severe psychiatric syndromes that might be caused by many medical as well as psychiatric conditions. Catatonia in adolescents is rare and largely understudied.

Aims: This papers aims to examine cases of catatonia among adolescent psychiatric inpatients, and to scrutinize both the etiologies and the management options.

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We report the case of a 17-year-old-boy with schizophrenia who developed tardive dystonia after 9 months of treatment with olanzapine. This case and the relevant literature show that when neuroleptic treatment is indicated, switching to another atypical neuroleptic might be helpful for both tardive dystonia and schizophrenia. In such a case, clozapine appears to be the first-line therapeutic option.

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Article Synopsis
  • Fear or anxiety can significantly impact the symptoms of a specific type of epilepsy, often making diagnosis challenging, especially when compared to panic attacks.
  • The affected brain regions are typically the temporal lobes, with some rare cases in the frontal lobes, necessitating a thorough analysis of symptoms to differentiate between conditions.
  • Recent research suggests that common brain structures involved in both epilepsy and anxiety disorders may be stimulated during epileptic episodes, leading to further complications in clinical diagnosis, as illustrated by three case studies.
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