This paper illustrates the impact of Islamic religious texts on dementia care in the Middle East. It examines how old age and older adults mental disorders are framed in the Quran and Hadith, and how these texts are transformed to belief ideologies and caregiving practices. The study uses a qualitative research methods, which include a review of all Islamic holy texts that address mental and cognitive changes associated with ageing, along with interviews with eight Sharia scholars and 37-Arab-Muslim families living in Qatar. Islamic texts command compassion and honouring of elderly parents and give care instructions. These texts are transformed into social practices and used as diagnostic and treatment tools.

Background: In 2014, United Nations member states proposed a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to help further the millennium development goals that they had proposed in New York in 2000. Of these 13 SDGs, Goal 3 (i.e., SDG 3) was titled “Good Health and Well-Being.” This goal highlighted women’s health and well-being via two key objectives. The first, SDG 3.1, aimed to reduce maternal mortality rates (MMR) and the second, SDG 3.7, aimed to ensure access to sexual and reproductive health care services. Drawing on all the latest reports, which have been released by Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC), this paper sheds light on GCC states’ work on women’s wellbeing through SDG 3. Aim: the paper aims to review GCC states’ work on women’s wellbeing in SDG3, which achievements they obtained, which tools they used and which gaps still exist. The paper aims to explain the socio-cultural background behind these achievements, tools, and gaps. Methodology: For the purpose of this study, we used narrative review approach through which we reviewed reports from 2017 and 2018 on SDGs published online by the Ministry of Development and Planning of each GCC state, and latest reports of the WHO on the same states. Findings: the study found similarities and differences between different GCC states, which in turn reveals gaps and areas that are not meeting women’s needs. The findings show that MMR in GCC countries has declined by nearly half. The main strategies they adopted to address SDG 3.1 included awareness campaigns, improving access to healthcare systems and training professionals. The tools used to meet SDG 3.7 included training health professionals and raising awareness of consanguinity. The study reveals several gaps, such as a lack of discussion around challenges and barriers, and a lack of linkage between an SDG and the targets contained within it. Conclusion: The paper concludes that there is a much greater emphasis on reducing MMR, compared to providing access to sexual and reproductive healthcare. This difference is due to different socio-cultural framing of each of these two issues.

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Purpose Medical students have a higher risk of developing psychological issues, such as feeding and eating disorders (FEDs). In the past few years, a major increase was observed in the number of studies on the topic. The goal of this review was to estimate the prevalence risk of FEDs and its associated risk factors in medical students. Methods Nine electronic databases were used to conduct an electronic search from the inception of the databases until 15 th September 2021. The DerSimonian–Laird technique was used to pool the estimates using random-effects meta-analysis. The prevalence of FEDs risk in medical students was the major outcome of interest. Data were analyzed globally, by country, by research measure and by culture. Sex, age, and body mass index were examined as potential confounders using meta-regression analysis. Results A random-effects meta-analysis evaluating the prevalence of FEDs in medical students ( K = 35, N = 21,383) generated a pooled prevalence rate of 17.35% (95% CI 14.15–21.10%), heterogeneity [ Q = 1528 (34), P = 0.001], τ 2 = 0.51 (95% CI 0.36–1.05), τ = 0.71 (95% CI 0.59–1.02), I 2 = 97.8%; H = 6.70 (95% CI 6.19–7.26). Age and sex were not significant predictors. Body mass index, culture and used research tool were significant confounders. Conclusion The prevalence of FEDs symptoms in medical students was estimated to be 17.35%. Future prospective studies are urgently needed to construct prevention and treatment programs to provide better outcomes for students at risk of or suffering from FEDs. Level of evidence Level I, systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: Assessment of reflective writing for medical students is challenging, and there is lack of an available instrument with good psychometric properties. The authors developed a new instrument for assessment of reflective writing-based portfolios and examined the construct validity of this instrument. Methods: After an extensive literature review and pilot testing of the instrument, two raters assessed the reflective writing-based portfolios from years 2 and 3 medical students (n=135) on three occasions. The instrument consists of three criteria: organization, description of an experience and reflection on the experience. We calculated the reliability of scores using generalizability theory with a fully crossed design and two facets (raters and occasions). In addition, we measured criterion validity by testing correlations with students' scores using other assessment methods. Results: The dependability (Φ) coefficient of the portfolio scores was 0.75 using two raters on three occasions. Students' portfolio scores represented 46.6% of the total variance across all score comparisons. The variance due to occasions was negligible, while the studentoccasion interaction was small. The variance due to student-rater interaction represented 17.7%, and the remaining 27.7% of the variance was due to unexplained sources of error. The decision (D) study suggested that an acceptable dependability (Φ = 0.70 and 0.72) can be achieved by using two raters for one and two occasions, respectively. Finally, we found moderate to large effect-size correlations between students' scores in reflective writing-based portfolios and communication skills (r = 0.47) and PBL tutorials (r = 0.50). Conclusion:We demonstrated the presence of different sources of evidence that support construct validity of the study instrument. Further studies are warranted before utilizing this instrument for summative assessment of students' reflective writing-based portfolios in other medical schools.