Suicidality in the Arab World: Results from an Online Screener

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Abstract

Suicide in the Arab World is grossly understudied. This study sought to understand suicidality among Arabic-speaking individuals visiting an online depression screener. A large sample (N = 23,201) from the Arab World was recruited online. 78.9% (n = 17,042) reported suicidality (thoughts of death or suicide, or a suicide attempt) and 12.4% reported a suicide attempt in the past 2 weeks. Binary logistic regressions indicated that women tended to report more suicidality, and that suicidality tended to decline with age (all ps < 0.001), across all levels of suicidality. Comparing countries with n ≥ 1000 (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia), several 3-way (gender * age * country) and 2-way interactions indicated that some countries departed from the usual pattern of responses. For instance, in Algeria, neither gender nor age differences were observed in reported attempts. Women and younger adults in the Arab World may be at higher risk of suicidality. Differences between and within countries warrant further exploration.

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Effectiveness of digital psychological interventions for mental health problems in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Zhongfang Fu, Huibert Burger, Retha Arjadi … (2020)

Summary Background The effectiveness of digital psychological interventions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains unclear. We aimed to systematically investigate the available evidence for digital psychological interventions in reducing mental health problems in LMICs. Methods In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and Cochrane databases for articles published in English from database inception to March 9, 2020. We included randomised controlled trials investigating digital psychological interventions in individuals with mental health problems in LMICs. We extracted data on demographics, inclusion and exclusion criteria, details of the intervention, including the setting, digital delivery method, control group conditions, number of sessions, therapeutic orientation (eg, cognitive therapy or behaviour therapy), presence or absence of guidance, and length of follow-up, and statistical information to calculate effect sizes. If a study reported insufficient data to calculate effect sizes, the corresponding authors were contacted to provide data that could be aggregated. We did random-effects meta-analyses, and calculated the standardised mean difference in scores of digital psychological interventions versus control conditions (Hedges' g). Quality of evidence was assessed by use of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach. The primary outcome was post-intervention mental health problems, as measured by self-reporting instruments or clinical interviews. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42019137755. Findings We identified 22 eligible studies that were included in the meta-analysis. The included studies involved a total of 4104 participants (2351 who received a digital psychological intervention and 1753 who were in the control group), and mainly focused on young adults (mean age of the study population was 20–35 years) with depression or substance misuse. The results showed that digital psychological interventions are moderately effective when compared with control interventions (Hedges' g 0·60 [95% CI 0·45–0·75]; Hedges' g with treatment as usual subgroup for comparison 0·54 [0·35–0·73]). Heterogeneity between studies was substantial (I 2=74% [95% CI 60–83]). There was no evidence of publication bias, and the quality of evidence according to the GRADE criteria was generally high. Interpretation Digital psychological interventions, which have been mostly studied in individuals with depression and substance misuse, are superior to control conditions, including usual care, and are moderately effective in LMICs. However, the considerable heterogeneity observed in our analysis highlights the need for more studies to be done, with standardised implementation of digital psychological intervention programmes to improve their reproducibility and efficiency. Digital psychological interventions should be considered for regions where usual care for mental health problems is minimal or absent. Funding None. Translations For the Persian, Chinese, Hindi, Portuguese, Bahasa, Turkish, Romanian, Spanish and Thai translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

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National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Its history, characteristics, and validity.

L N Robins, J E Helzer, J Croughan … (1981)

A new interview schedule allows lay interviewers or clinicians to make psychiatric diagnoses according to DSM-III criteria, Feighner criteria, and Research Diagnostic Criteria. It is being used in a set of epidemiological studies sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health Center for Epidemiological Studies. Its accuracy has been evaluated in a test-retest design comparing independent administrations by psychiatrists and lay interviewers to 216 subjects (inpatients, outpatients, ex-patients, and nonpatients).

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Health information, the Internet, and the digital divide

M. Brodie, R E Flournoy, D E Altman … (2000)

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Author and article information

Contributors

Yan Leykin:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9851-0142

yleykin@paloaltou.edu

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Community Ment Health J

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Community Ment Health J

Title: Community Mental Health Journal

Publisher: Springer US (New York )

ISSN (Print): 0010-3853

ISSN (Electronic): 1573-2789

Publication date (Electronic): 4 May 2023

Publication date PMC-release: 4 May 2023

Pages: 1-8

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.261634.4, ISNI 0000 0004 0526 6385, Department of Psychology, , Palo Alto University, ; 1791 Arastradero Rd, Palo AltoPalo Alto, CA 94304 USA

[2 ]GRID grid.266102.1, ISNI 0000 0001 2297 6811, Department of Family & Community Medicine, , University of California, ; San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA

[3 ]GRID grid.168010.e, ISNI 0000000419368956, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, , Stanford University, ; Palo Alto, CA USA

[4 ]GRID grid.266102.1, ISNI 0000 0001 2297 6811, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, , University of California, ; San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA

[5 ]Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health, Palo Alto, CA USA

Author information

Yan Leykin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9851-0142

Article

Publisher ID: 1129

DOI: 10.1007/s10597-023-01129-7

PMC ID: 10157551

PubMed ID: 37140845

SO-VID: cd8e32cf-a7ca-4908-9977-c6842be81eca

License:

Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Date received : 27 August 2022

Date accepted : 13 April 2023

Funding

Funded by: Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Seed Grant

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100001455, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention;

Award ID: SRG-0-059-11

Award Recipient : Yan Leykin

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100006785, Google;

Funded by: Palo Alto University

Open Access :

Open access funding provided by SCELC, Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium

Suicidality in the Arab World: Results from an Online Screener

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Most cited references 39

Effectiveness of digital psychological interventions for mental health problems in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Its history, characteristics, and validity.

Health information, the Internet, and the digital divide

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