Mother-daughter relationships within a Muslim community and the influence on American Muslim adolescent daughters’ health behavior

Doctor of PhilosophySchool of Family Studies and Human ServicesKaren S. Myers-BowmanImmigrant Muslim mothers is a rapidly growing population in the United States for which there seems to be little or no information about their health values and parenting practices. Approximately 4 million adolescents in the U.S. have Arab Muslim immigrant parents. The goal of this study is to understand how adolescent girls’ health behaviors can be shaped and influenced by sociocutlural factors especially the mother-daughter relationships and the influences of living in a Muslim community in the U.S. The immigrant Muslim mother’s values (religious and cultural) that shape these relationships were examined. Next, the influence of the new dominant culture; the American culture on the mothers’ values, maternal practices and thus the adolescent daughter’s health behavior was addressed. Using criterion sampling strategy, eleven immigrant Muslim mothers and their American Muslim adolescent daughters (N=22) who were born and also raised in the United States were recruited and interviewed. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed following phenomenological research methods. Mothers in this study showed that their health values were shaped by Islam, culture origin and the acculturation factor. The majority of the mothers explained that they were more religious in the United States and some of them mentioned that they left out their culture of origin values and accept some values from the new dominant culture. Mothers in this sample explained that in order to share their values with their daughters, they needed to be close, supportive, open minded, good listeners to them. In addition, they followed different maternal practices such as: tried to be available, monitored their health behaviors, had healthy communication with them although there was imposing, and tried to model different health behaviors. However, the daughters’ perception of the mothers’ health values and maternal relationships was an important factor in determining how these values and practices could shape the daughters’ health behaviors. The results revealed that daughters who perceived that their mothers’ values and practices were shaped by the three factors were more likely to follow healthy behaviors. A theoretical model was developed. Implications for family professionals and recommendations for future research are discussed

Addressing context to understand physical activity among Muslim university students: the role of gender, family, and culture.

Physical inactivity is a crucial risk factor for the development of chronic health issues, which have a high incidence among Arabs living in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The Qatar Stepwise Survey 2012 reported that approximately 44% of young adults 18-44 years of age had insufficient levels of physical activity. Family is a powerful source of information and socialization for adolescents and has a strong influence on their attitudes, decision-making, and behaviors. The purpose of this study is to understand how university students' physical activity can be influenced by sociocultural factors, particularly family health values and Muslim Arab culture. Using the criterion sampling strategy, 20 undergraduate Muslim students (Female students =10, Male students = 10) aged from 18 to 23 years who were Qatari or born and also raised in Qatar were recruited and interviewed. Participants were asked if they consider themselves active or not, about their perception of family health values regarding physical activity and the factors shaping these values, and the influence of family values on their physical activity behavior. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed following inductive analysis. The majority of the participants were influenced by their family health values, which were shaped by Qatari culture and the culture of origin for non-Qatari and were implicitly shaped by Islam. Participants reported that their role models of physical activity were males (fathers and male siblings), a health condition will motivate their families to be physically active, and families give priority to work and academic achievement over physical activity. A few participants showed that there was explicit influence of Islam on their physical activity, because culture's influence was veiling religion's. Culture was seen as a facilitator for physical activity from the males' perspectives, which was not the case for female participants who reported the negative influence of culture on their physical activity because of the limited choices available for them. Non-Qatari students revealed that their culture of origin (such as Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sudan, Pakistan and India) was the dominant factor in shaping their family health values. The findings address gaps in the literature about families' health values regarding physical activity in Qatar, the influence of the different ecologies surrounding these values, and the physical activity behaviors of university students. Knowledge about these factors can aid in the development of family-based interventions designed to motivate adolescents to be physically active, which should be religion- and culture-tailored

Public practices on antibiotic usage: A cross-sectional study among college students and their family members

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health problem and a global concern. The inappropriate use of antibiotics has been identified by the World Health Organization as a major risk factor for AMR. Methods The purpose of this research study is to assess the prevalence of inappropriate antibiotic use among Qatar University students and their family members, detect sociodemographic factors associated with inappropriate use, evaluate the knowledge and attitude towards antibiotic use, and assess respondents’ opinions on healthcare providers’ antibiotic prescription practices. Participants (N = 596) completed a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, the Pearson chi-squared test, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results The major inappropriate antibiotic use practices followed by the respondents were using antibiotics without prescription (82%), not completing the antibiotic course (45%), and obtaining antibiotics from the pharmacy without prescription (23%). The chi-square test results showed that age (p = 0.031) and nationality (p = 0.041) were associated with using antibiotics without prescription. In addition, respondents less than 21 years of age (p26 years), married and university-graduated participants were more likely to have a positive attitude towards antibiotic use than others. Respondents also reported that neither doctors nor pharmacists were providing adequate patient education about appropriate antibiotic use. The Socio-Ecological Model was applied to interpret the findings and frame implications. Conclusion The findings shed light on various factors shaping antibiotic use practices and provide evidence to design multilevel behavioral interventions to improve public practices of antibiotic use