Depressive disorder (DD) is a mental illness affecting more than 300 million people worldwide, whereas social stigma and subtle, variant symptoms impede diagnosis. Psychomotor retardation is a common component of DD with a negative impact on motor function, usually reflected on patients’ routine activities, including, nowadays, their interaction with mobile devices. Therefore, such interactions constitute an enticing source of information towards unsupervised screening for DD symptoms in daily life. In this vein, this paper proposes a machine learning-based method for discriminating between subjects with depressive tendency and healthy controls, as denoted by self-reported Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) compound scores, based on typing patterns captured in-the-wild. The latter consisted of keystroke timing sequences and typing metadata, passively collected during natural typing on touchscreen smartphones by 11/14 subjects with/without depressive tendency. Statistical features were extracted and tested in univariate and multivariate classification pipelines to reach a decision on subjects’ status. The best-performing pipeline achieved an AUC = 0.89 (0.72–1.00; 95% Confidence Interval) and 0.82/0.86 sensitivity/specificity, with the outputted probabilities significantly correlating (>0.60) with the respective PHQ-9 scores. This work adds to the findings of previous research associating typing patterns with psycho-motor impairment and contributes to the development of an unobtrusive, high-frequency monitoring of depressive tendency in everyday living.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is estimated to affect 2.8 million people worldwide, with increasing prevalence in all world regions (Walton et al ). While there is no cure for MS, medication and lifestyle modifications can slow disease progression and enhance patients’ quality of life. The biopsychosocial model of health recognises important interactions among biological, psychological and social factors in illness, including those relating to illness management, which contribute to the experience of those diagnosed with MS. Objective: This qualitative, idiographic study aimed to explore the lived experiences of patients in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) diagnosed with MS. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight patients with MS ranging in age from 25 to 56 years. All participants were residing in the UAE at the time of data collection. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: Three superordinate themes were identified from patients’ candid accounts of their lives with MS, highlighting issues of illness management, acceptance and gratitude, and adaptive coping. These themes broadly illustrate biological, psychological and social aspects of patients’ MS experiences. Conclusion: The study emphasised the importance of adopting the biopsychosocial model to treat and manage MS. Additionally, it highlights the need for routine assessment and early, multidimensional approach with multidisciplinary team efforts to improve patients’ quality of life.

As the prevalence rates of eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors continue to rise worldwide, it is crucial to make psychometrically validated tools available for clinical use. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Arabic versions of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Clinical Impairment Assessment (CIA) using a sample from the clinical population. The sixth edition of the EDE-Q and the third edition of the CIA were translated into Arabic and administered to 260 Arab participants (203 diagnosed with eating disorders and 57 from the general population) who are natives of various countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Convenience sampling method was used to recruit the participants with a 97% response rate. Participants from the non-clinical group also filled out the Arabic version of the EAT-26 questionnaire to rule out underlying disordered eating behaviors. Data was collected between June 2018 and August 2023. Internal consistency for the global scores of both the EDE-Q and CIA were high, while the coefficients for the four subscales of the EDE-Q and the three subscales of the CIA were moderate. Confirmatory factor analysis on the EDE-Q revealed a good fit for the abbreviated seven-item measurement with three factors, and the same was true for the CIA’s three-factor model. Convergent validity results showed significant correlations between the EDE-Q and the CIA with high coefficients. Known groups validity tests revealed significant differences based on eating disorder behaviors, where those who reported vomiting episodes and laxative misuse scored significantly higher on the EDE-Q than those who did not, and those who reported excessive exercising behavior scored significantly higher on the CIA than those who did not. There were no significant differences observed based on eating disorder diagnoses, nor were there differences among individuals with secondary diagnoses. Test-retest reliability and discriminant validity tests were not carried out. Strengths, limitations, and future directions are thoroughly discussed. The study investigated the reliability, validity, and factor structure of these tools. The findings corroborate previous studies’ support for the EDE-Q’s abbreviated seven-item measurement with three factors and the CIA’s three-factor model. With a comparatively modest sample size, the findings should be considered preliminary for Arabic versions of the tools using a clinical sample, and future studies with larger sample are warranted to confirm them.

In recent years, several studies have indicated that there is a considerable mismatch between the specific set of skills that employers require and the ones that university graduates have to offer. The 2023 report from the World Economic Forum lists 10 core skills that are sought after by global organizations, six of which are categorized under social-emotional learning. As part of its National Employment Strategy 2031, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) aims to build a knowledge-based economy and increase labor productivity. This communicative piece proposes a policy reform across higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates, seizing as an opportunity the country’s growing commitment to increase talent attraction and retention in the rapidly evolving workplace. Seeing the significant association between social-emotional competencies and thriving in dynamic professional settings, the article highlights the prevalence of mental health disorders among the general youth in the UAE, the government’s commitment towards awareness and prevention of mental health disorders, the relevance of social-emotional competencies for employability and adaptability in the rapidly evolving workplace, the importance of introducing lessons and training in mindfulness-based social-emotional learning (MBSEL) to build the youth’s adaptability in an ever-changing job landscape, and practical measures that can be taken at the institutional level within the UAE context.

Despite recent efforts towards equality, there are still gender disparities in Middle Eastern societies, where women are often discouraged from viewing themselves as autonomous, competent and self‐determining individuals due to the internalization of traditional gender norms. Research on women's empowerment in multicultural and non‐Western societies is scarce. In the absence of other interventions, exercising has been effective in increasing women's psychological and physical strength. The present study focused on women (N = 250) living in a non‐Western and multicultural environment, aiming to assess whether (a) self‐stereotyping negatively correlates with factors of empowerment (operationalized as a sense of autonomy, agency and self‐efficacy) and exercising, (b) exercising is positively associated with factors of empowerment and (c) if exercising would mediate the hypothesized relationship of self‐stereotyping on empowerment. Secondly, the study also qualitatively explored the subjectively reported exercising motives and outcomes. The results of quantitative analyses confirmed that self‐stereotyping was negatively correlated with autonomy and agency, but not with physical self‐efficacy. Exercising was positively correlated with all the factors of empowerment and negatively with self‐stereotyping. The structural equation modelling supported the intermediary role of exercising in the associations between self‐stereotyping and autonomy and agency. The qualitative analysis revealed that although the participants principally exercised for health‐related motives, the reported outcome was primarily reflective of experiences of empowerment. The findings could be used to inform current policies and interventions geared towards women to support and promote their physical and psychological well‐being.