Eating habits among primary and secondary school students in the Gaza Strip, Palestine: A cross-sectional study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Radwan, Afnan; Radwan, Eqbal; Radwan, Walaa

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2021.105222

Cited by 25 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 90 publications

(100 reference statements)

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“…Therefore, enhancing people's awareness towards increased intake of healthy food and adopting good eating habits is advised. Other studies have reached the same results [39][40][41].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Lifestyle Variations during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Diet, Physical Activities, and Weight Gain among the Jordanian Adult Population

Hammouri

Almomani

Abdel-Muhsen

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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The way that COVID-19 has been handled since its inception in 2019 has had a significant impact on lifestyle-related behaviors, such as physical activities, diet, and sleep patterns. This study measures lifestyle-related behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown using a 22-item questionnaire. The responses were collected from March 2021 to September 2021. A total of four hundred and sixty-seven Jordanian participants were engaged in assessing the changes caused by the pandemic and their effect on BMI. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were tested for 71 participants. Cronbach’s alpha values for the questionnaire exceeded 0.7, demonstrating good reliability and internal consistency. The effect of each question regarding physical activity and dietary habits over the BMI difference was studied using ANOVA. The study shows that more than half of the participants reported snacking more between meals and increased their sitting and screen time, while 74% felt more stressed and anxious. BMI difference among the individuals throughout the lockdown was significantly associated with these variables. In contrast, 62% of the participants showed more awareness about their health by increasing the intake of immunity-boosting foods, and 56% of the participants showed an increase in the consumption of nutrition supplements. Females and married individuals tended to be healthier. Therefore, their BMI showed stability compared to others based on their gender and marital status. Exercise, sleep, and avoiding ‘junk’ food, which contributes to weight gain and COVID-19 vulnerability, are strongly recommended.

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“…Therefore, enhancing people's awareness towards increased intake of healthy food and adopting good eating habits is advised. Other studies have reached the same results [39][40][41].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Lifestyle Variations during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Diet, Physical Activities, and Weight Gain among the Jordanian Adult Population

Hammouri

Almomani

Abdel-Muhsen

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…Besides the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, the Gaza Strip is still suffering from numerous problems related to all aspects of life due to the hard blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation since 2007. Students and their families strongly struggle to be in life due to hard poverty, inability to provide the required necessities, frequent cutting off electricity, destroyed infrastructure, food insecurity, water pollution, increased unemployment rate, lost jobs, and other many problems clothing and medication [ 28 , 43 , 52 , 67 ]. Most students come from very low-income families and their guardians inability to provide them with electronic resources (laptop, tablet, mobile phone, internet, etc.)…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gaza is a conflict zone that could require evacuation, demobilization, re-mobilization, personnel access challenge and rework of destroyed infrastructure due to the frequent attacks and wars. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reports that most Palestinians live in poverty and suffer from the inability to provide main necessities to their families including health food, shelter, clothing and medication [ 28 , 43 , 52 , 67 ]. With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole circumstances got worse and become more dangerous than before.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Stress among School Students in Distance Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Gaza Strip, Palestine

Radwan

Radwan³

et al. 2021

Augment Hum Res

Self Cite

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The rapid outbreak of COVID-19 is a global health problem that has a significant effect on the educational systems. Therefore, students shifted to distance learning through the digital platform. Since COVID-19 has consequences on mental health, the present study examined the perceived stress level in school students in distance learning during the COVID-19 period. A cross-sectional study of a sample consisting of 385 school students evaluated the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and their concerns and emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that the mean value of the total PSS scores was 19.50 ± 9.28. About 48.6% of students had moderate stress, 28.8% had low stress, and 22.6% had high stress. Significant associations were found between the level of stress and demographic variables: age, gender, educational level, and place of residence. Female students were significantly higher than the male students in the mean score of perceived stress level (20.14 versus 18.13; p -value = 0.018). Females were more likely (53.4%) to have moderate stress than males (38.2%) ( p = 0.019). The students aged 15–18 years were significantly higher than those aged 11–14 years in the mean score of perceived stress level (22.64 versus 17.24, respectively; p -value < 0.001). The students aged 15–18 years were also more likely ( n = 536, 96.4%) to had high levels of stress than the younger students ( p < 0.001). The results showed that secondary school students were significantly higher than primary school students in the mean score of perceived stress level (23.75 versus 16.76, respectively; p < 0.001). Secondary students were also more likely (43.0%) to have high stress than primary students (9.4%) ( p < 0.001). Students who live in the Rafah governorate had a significantly lowest mean score of perceived stress level when compared to other counterparts ( p -value = 0.005). Gender ( β = − 0.282, P < 0.001), age ( β = − 0.379, P = 0.004), place of residence ( β = − 0.096, P = 0.034), and educational level ( β = 0.845, P < 0.001) were predictors of perceived stress. The results revealed moderate to high levels of stress in school students in the Gaza Strip during schools closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence of psychological distress attributed to suddenly shifted from traditional learning to distance learning. The incorporation of stress management programs and online counselling will minimize stress and enhance the mental health of school students during distance learning.

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“…The sensitive situation caused food insecurity because a sudden drop in supply or access to food. This dramatic event had a negative impact on the children's eating behaviors, increasing their addiction to foods rich in sugar, salt, and fat [ 3 ]. Eating-related behaviors are often identified as one of the factors contributing to the development of childhood obesity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of obesity, eating behaviors and physical activity levels living in rural and urban areas during the covid-19 pandemic era: a study of Turkish adolescent

et al. 2022

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Background The purpose of this study was to determine the eating behaviors, obesity and physical activity status of children of similar ages living in rural and urban areas and to examine these relationships during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic process. Method The research was conducted using the scanning model. The research group consists of children living in rural and urban areas in Turkey. The sample of the study consists of a total of 733 adolescent participants, 351 females (47.9%) and 382 males (52.1%). After anthropometric measurements were made, the Physical Activity Questionnaire for older children and the Yale Food Addiction Scale for children 2.0 were used to determine the food addiction and physical activity status of children during the COVID19 pandemic process. Since the groups were homogeneously distributed, independent samples t-test and Pearson correlation test were used. Result In terms of food addiction and physical activity levels, children living in the urban have higher scores than children living in rural areas. In addition, children living in the urban were taller and have higher body mass values than those in rural areas. In terms of physical activity level and food addiction levels, while girls living in the urban had higher activity levels than those living in rural areas, no statistically significant difference was found between the physical activity levels of boys. When evaluated in terms of general and gender, it was determined that children living in rural areas were overweight and obese at a higher rate. Obese children had higher levels of food addiction and lower physical activity levels than non-obese children. Conclusion In order to prevent childhood obesity, the level of food addiction should be reduced as well as increasing the level of physical activity. This study is limited in terms of cross-sectional evaluation. Future research can experimentally reveal how much obesity is reduced by methods such as exercise and diet interventions.

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Eating habits among primary and secondary school students in the Gaza Strip, Palestine: A cross-sectional study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 25 publications

References 90 publications

Lifestyle Variations during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Diet, Physical Activities, and Weight Gain among the Jordanian Adult Population

Lifestyle Variations during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Diet, Physical Activities, and Weight Gain among the Jordanian Adult Population

Perceived Stress among School Students in Distance Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Gaza Strip, Palestine

Investigation of obesity, eating behaviors and physical activity levels living in rural and urban areas during the covid-19 pandemic era: a study of Turkish adolescent

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