Background Socioeconomic position is a community-used concept in health research. The social level is related to numerous exposures, resources, and susceptibilities that may affect health. Aim To update and validate a tool for scaling the socioeconomic level of families for health research. Participants and methods A multistage stratified cluster sampling technique was used to select 900 families (one index person per family) from urban and rural areas in the Alexandria governorate using the proportional allocation method. Ten variables reflecting parental education, parental occupation, family characteristics, financial status as well as home sanitation were reduced to a single socioeconomic status (SES) index using two methods: the Sigma scoring method and factor analysis. Reliability and validity were assessed for the developed scale. Factor scores were classified into three categories (low, medium, high) using cluster analysis, and then different cut-off points for the Sigma scoring method were used and compared with the cluster solution using the κ statistic. Results Results showed that the developed scale was both reliable (Cronbach’s α coefficient α=0.79) and valid [8 out of the 10 items had high loading (>0.5) for SES]. The best cut-off points for SES classification using the proposed scoring system that yielded the highest agreement with the cluster solution (κ=0.77) were less than 40%, 40 to <70%, and at 70% or more, with an overall correct classification of 84.7%. Conclusion and recommendation The new scale proved to be valid and reliable. This scale is recommended for use for scaling the socioeconomic level of families for health research.

Depression is projected to be the leading cause of disease burden in older populations by the year 2020. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence depression among a group of elders in Alexandria, Egypt and compare the characteristic of elders in 3 different settings. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out among 100 people aged 60+ years in a government elderly home, an internal medicine ward in Alexandria Main University Hospital and a slum area in Alexandria. Based on the Geriatric Depression Scale (short form) the highest prevalence of scores that were suggestive or indicative of depression was among elders who were hospitalized (79.0%), had ophthalmic diseases (85.7%) or tumours (80.0%), had 2+ chronic morbidities (64.9%), were taking 4+ medications daily (83,3%), were more physically dependent and had 2+ hospital admissions in the last 3 years (90.9%). Modifiable factors that impact on depression need to be considered in developing interventions for improving mood states in the elderly.

Background: Infections during labor and the puerperium are among the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide, accounting for about one tenth of the global burden of maternal deaths. The infection risk associated with care in labor rooms is probably quite high. Objective(s): The study was conducted to assess infection control (IC) knowledge and practices of obstetricians in maternity hospitals in Alexandria during normal labor and to design, implement and evaluate the effect of an intervention program on IC practices of obstetricians. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted among 135 obstetricians followed by an intervention study (one group pretest-posttest design). All obstetricians were asked to fill a questionnaire for assessment of knowledge and were observed three times using a checklist for assessment of practice. A health education program was designed and implemented among obstetricians then practices of obstetricians were reassessed using the same checklist. Results: Nearly 90% of obstetricians in this study had a good level of knowledge regarding standard IC precautions. Nearly two thirds of obstetricians (65.9%) had poor level of practice while 34.1% had fair level of practice pre-intervention. Post-intervention, 46.7% of obstetricians had fair level of practice. Areas of poor practice were hand hygiene and use of PPE. The best area of improvement in post-intervention was hand hygiene while use of PPE did not improve much. Conclusion: There is a gap between knowledge of obstetricians regarding IC and their practices.

Background: Having a weight problem can cause emotional distress, especially in students, who suffer from both issues at a high rate. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative impact on society, these problems can be significantly impacted. The study aims to investigate the relationship between nursing students’ BMI and their mental well-being. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 423 students from the second through fourth baccalaureate years of Science of Nursing program – KSA. The instrument for the study was an online questionnaire distributed to the students via Google Forms during the academic year 2021– 2022 to collect data on the emotional state of students directly as a result of COVID-19 restrictions and limitations. The statistical analysis was carried out through Chi-square test was used to compare categorical data between groups and the Pearson coefficient is used to determine the correlation between two quantitative variables with normal distribution. Results: There is a significant correlation between BMI with depression score, anxiety score and stress score. Higher BMI indicated 6.4 times more likeliness to have depression than lower BMI (OR = 6.4). Students who had higher BMI were 2.7 times more likely to have anxiety than those who had lower BMI (OR = 2.7), and 9.4 times more likely to have stress than those who had lower BMI (OR = 9.4). Conclusion: Study findings indicate that nursing students’ BMI increases as depression, anxiety, and stress increase. During the COVID-19 pandemic, participants reported increased weight due to increased stress levels and increased eating. Students in nursing should be aware of the importance of adopting healthy habits and following a healthy lifestyle.

Maternal knowledge about childhood epilepsy is an important aspect affecting theirhealthcare practices and attitudes towards their children. Objective: Assess level of mothers'knowledge about childhood epilepsy, to investigate its relation to their healthcare practicesand attitudes, and to identify socio-demographic, educational and disease-related factorsassociated with mothers’ knowledge level. Setting: The study was carried out in SmouhaHealth Insurance Child Mental Health Clinic affiliated to the Health Insurance Organization,Alexandria–Egypt. Subjects: The subjects of present study comprised of 308 mothersattending the clinic for follow up of their epileptic children. Tool: A predesignedquestionnaire was used to assess mothers' epilepsy-related knowledge, practices andattitudes. Results: The majority of mothers (80.5%) showed unsatisfactory knowledge. Mostof them (91.9%) agreed on observing the child all the time for safety; showed goodcompliance with children's medications for dose (83.4%) and time (72.7%). More than half(54.2%) did not treat their children as normal ones (overprotection/rejection). The higherlevel of mother's knowledge was associated significantly with disagreement on observing thechild all the time (P= 0.000), and with medication compliance (P= 0.034). Only grand malseizures predicted higher level of mothers' knowledge (B= 0.961, P= 0.015). Conclusion:Mothers' knowledge about epilepsy was considerably low. Higher knowledge level wasassociated with positive attitudes and practices. Recommendations: Integrating aneducational component to healthcare plans of epileptic children is recommended.