Publications by authors named "Marwan Akel"

The study objectives were to test the hypothesis that childhood trauma moderates the associations between early maladaptive schemas (EMS) and intimate partner violence (IPV) among women in the specific Lebanese patriarchal context. This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted on Lebanese women between September and December 2018; 1,655 participants enrolled in this study were from all of Lebanon's governorates and were selected using an equitable representative sample. The "Disconnection and Rejection" EMS domain showed the strongest correlations with both physical and nonphysical IPV ( = .

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Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive degenerative neurological disorder that negatively affects the quality of life of affected individuals as well as their care givers. There is limited information in both epidemiological data and awareness level on PD in the Middle East. Considering the increasing prevalence of PD, the lack of awareness and negative attitudes toward PD pose a barrier in the provision of appropriate care for individuals with PD.

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Background: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder. Public knowledge of ADHD plays a crucial role in shaping attitudes, reducing stigma, and fostering a supportive environment for individuals with this disease. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge and stigma of the general Lebanese population regarding ADHD and identify potential factors associated with these variables.

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  • The study investigates how early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) affect interpersonal attraction among Lebanese female university students, a topic not previously researched.
  • Utilizing a sample of 662 cisgender and heterosexual female students, the research identifies significant links between EMSs and various forms of attraction, particularly noting that punitiveness boosts task attraction and enmeshment raises social attraction.
  • The findings suggest the importance of EMSs in influencing women's interpersonal relationships and support the potential benefits of schema therapy for enhancing healthy interactions and overall well-being.
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  • * A survey was conducted online in 2021 with 1,094 healthcare workers across eight countries, revealing that high work fatigue lowers resilience, which in turn is linked to increased psychological distress.
  • * The findings suggest that resilience is a key factor in mitigating the mental health impacts of fatigue, indicating that strategies to enhance resilience could improve healthcare worker well-being.
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  • Previous research identified the impact of the pharmacist-patient relationship on patient outcomes, but this study focused on how relationship dynamics affect medication adherence and quality of life (QOL).
  • Conducted online in April 2023, the study involved 865 Lebanese adults, revealing that those with poorer health had higher rates of medication non-adherence and lower QOL.
  • It concluded that while sociodemographic factors influence patient expectations and QOL, the anticipated mediation effect of the pharmacist-patient relationship on medication adherence was not as significant as expected.
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This study aimed to identify the perceived advantages and drawbacks of teleworking and their correlates, including health problems, among Lebanese workers holding a university degree. A web-based cross-sectional self-report questionnaire created on Google Forms was used to survey 230 participants through snowball sampling between October 2022 and March 2023. The majority of respondents recognized both the advantages (67.

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Introduction: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacists, despite their vital contributions, have faced significant challenges that have impacted their mental well-being, potentially leading to the development of Post-Traumatic Stress symptoms (PTSS). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of work-related fatigue as a potential moderator in the relationship between pharmacists' resilience and their likelihood of experiencing PTSS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted online in eight countries from January to December 2021, including Brazil, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, and Tunisia.

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The relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and lifestyle choices during the COVID-19 pandemic is obscure and not very well understood. To clarify the mechanisms underlying this relationship, we proposed to test the hypothesis that different coping styles (avoidant and approach) have an indirect effect on the association between EI and many types of lifestyle habits. A cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021.

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  • Medicines can be administered through various routes, affecting their perceived effectiveness and individual preferences, which may be influenced by cultural background.
  • A survey of 4,435 adults from 21 countries revealed that oral administration is the most preferred method, but preferences vary significantly between cultures, with varying acceptance levels for other methods like injections and dermal applications.
  • Analysis showed a strong correlation between cultural identity and choice of medicine administration route, highlighting the complexity of factors that influence these preferences, including pain perception and efficacy ratings.
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Background: Alexithymia can be associated with worse addictive traits, while emotional intelligence is associated with better addictive outcomes. In Lebanon, the prevalence of cigarette and waterpipe smoking is on the rise, although people are aware of the associated harms. Also, around 11% of Lebanese adults have experienced alcohol use disorder (AUD).

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Background: Medication shortage is a public health problem, affecting patients' outcomes mainly through the difficulty in maintaining adherence, particularly in the context of a severe economic crisis. There is a need for a new scale that assesses the effect of medication shortage on adherence.

Aim: To develop and validate a scale to evaluate the harmful impact of medication shortage among the general Lebanese population and assess its correlates and association with medication adherence.

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Objectives: Investment in the development of the pharmacy workforce has been recognized as crucial for achieving universal health coverage. The 21 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Development Goals (DGs) have been used when conducting national needs assessments in several countries to provide evidence-based policy on workforce development. This study aimed to explore factors contributing to education and training in a FIP sample of mainly low- to middle-income countries (LMICs), and current national policy initiatives and priorities, mapped against the FIP DGs.

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To evaluate the moderating effect of emotion regulation between fear of COVID-19 and quality of life (QOL) among a sample of Lebanese adults. This cross-sectional study included 449 participants who completed an online survey (between December 2020 and January 2021). Higher positive ( = .

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Objectives: Competencies refer to the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors individuals develop through education, training, and experience. These competencies can be formulated into a framework to support practitioner development for effective and sustained performance. In the absence of a national framework for pharmacy education and practice in Lebanon, the Order of Pharmacists of Lebanon (OPL, the official association of pharmacists in Lebanon) pioneered the development of a pharmacy competency framework in 2017.

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Background: Given the excessive length and inconsistent validity of the existing long stroke-specific quality of life (SS-QOL) scales, there is a need to validate a shorter measuring tool. The aim of this study was to validate the Arabic version of the short 12-item SS-QOL (SS-QOL-12-AR) and examine its validity measures and psychometric properties. Additionally, the study aimed to assess the QOL after stroke and identify the sociodemographic and clinical factors that influence it in Lebanon.

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Background: Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a relatively new potential eating disorder characterized by an intense fixation on one's eating habits and the imposition of rigid and inflexible rules on oneself. Psychological factors such as obsessive-compulsive tendencies, perfectionism and self-esteem may interact in complex ways and contribute to the development and maintenance of ON.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 977 participants from Italy, Lebanon, and Poland.

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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 relationship between CVS and mental health has been reported, the impact of CVS has not been explored on more than one psychological aspect.

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Background: This study aimed to determine the impact of implementing instructional educational games on attaining the intended learning outcomes mapped with the competencies of a pharmacy practice experience course, and to assess students' attitudes towards motivation and engagement in this active learning activity.

Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study that utilized a pretest-posttest for the research groups. Students were divided into teams and challenged to answer different questions related to the case scenarios.

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Background: In the absence of a similar study in the Lebanese context, this study aimed to validate the content of the specialized competencies frameworks of academic pharmacists (educators, researchers, and clinical preceptors) and pilot their use for practice assessment in the context of multiple severe crises.

Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted between March and September 2022 among academic pharmacists enrolled by snowball sampling using a questionnaire created on Google Forms.

Results: The suggested frameworks had appropriate content to assess the competencies of academic pharmacists.

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Background: Medication errors can often occur due to the patient's inability to comprehend written or verbal medication orders. This study aimed to develop pictograms of selected medication orders and to validate the comprehension of prescription orders index and compare the comprehension scores with and without pictograms. In addition to determine the predictors that could be associated with a better or worse comprehension of prescription orders with pictograms versus that of their written counterparts.

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Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is a critical multifactorial determinant of health and plays a significant role in shaping an individual's health outcomes. While a composite scale has been proposed to measure SES in children, to our knowledge, limited composite scales were developed for adults in different contexts, highlighting the need for a comprehensive and valid SES measure to elucidate the relationship between SES and health in this population.

Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate a composite scale that measures the socioeconomic status in Lebanon and assess its correlates in a socioeconomic crisis context.

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The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups.

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Objectives: This study aimed to validate a specialized competency framework for industry pharmacists and assess correlates related to the competency domains in a pilot sample.

Methods: A team of experts assessed the old framework and improved its content validity after a thorough literature review, using the Delphi technique. Domains and their respective competencies and behaviors were re-defined in the framework.

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