Saudi Arabia, one of the developing countries, has a number of problems with the health care and medical treatment of the Saudi people. This study was undertaken to identify and to examine some of these problems and the role of the pharmacist in health education. A questionnaire was developed and sent to 200 Saudi students in the United States; 111 completed questionnaires were returned. The questionnaire was also sent to Saudi Arabia where 51 persons were interviewed. Results of the questionnaire indicated that some of the problems identified were due to the attitudes of the person interviewed and others resulted from the quality of pharmaceutical services which were provided. Some patients in Saudi Arabia want a "cure" from the first contact with the physician; some do not want to use the medications for a long period of time, for example, those who are undergoing treatment for chronic diseases. Some go to more than one physician and may receive prescriptions for two or more drugs. Others may discontinue the drug and not return to the physician. Some may obtain their medications without a prescription and others may use the medication(s) prescribed for other persons. Generally, it was determined that the services provided by the pharmacist were not what the patient expected and wanted. Also poor communication between the patient and the pharmacist was identified. Language problems were the usual cause cited. These problems may lead to treatment failure and/or an increase in the incidence of adverse drug reactions or drug-drug interactions. Recommendations were developed in an attempt to alleviate some of these problems. These recommendations include the requirement that each hospital keep a medical record for each patient, and also that a medication record for each patient be kept in the pharmacy to avoid the duplication of medications (prescriptions). The law or regulations which restricts the availability of medicines without a prescription from any pharmacy inside the hospitals or from market pharmacies should be adhered to and enforced by the pharmacists. Appointments for outpatients should be made to reduce the crowds of people at the doctor's office or at the pharmacy windows. This will encourage good communication and allow more time for the physician, pharmacist and the patient to discuss the disease and treatment. To overcome poor communications due to the language barrier, it is important that only those physicians and pharmacists who can speak the Arabic language work in the outpatient departments. Encouragement of patient participation in his treatment can be provided by enhancing health education in the media such as in newspapers and on radio and television programs. The pharmacist should play a role in solving these problems by monitoring drug therapy. The appendix contains a proposal which specifies the types of information which should be provided to Saudi patients regarding their prescribed medications. The diseases included in the appendix were selected as examples because they are rather common in Saudi Arabia.

Health care systems in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere play a significant role in the lives of individuals as well as society at large. Although healthcare aims at enhancing the quality of life it can sometimes happen that treatment itself can lead to a diminution of the quality of life due to unexpected adverse effects. These problems may cause therapeutic failures or even drug-related morbidity and mortality. Consequently there is a need to have in place a system, conventionally known as Pharmacovigilance. The aims of Pharmacovigilance are to identify, quantify and continuously monitor all drug use through a system which would enable all health care professionals such as physicians, pharmacists, dentists and nurses to contribute. This thesis investigated the present knowledge of and use of, the Pharmacovigilance system in Makkah, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A mixed method yielded data that provided depth and breadth to the findings of this study. A questionnaire was designed for 170 community pharmacists and 310 respondents drawn from different medical roles across the seven hospitals in Makkah yielded some useful results. Resistance to change was identified in some groups but it was of interest to discover that 72% of respondents who admitted that their knowledge was insufficient were, nevertheless, agreed about its importance. Key issues from the analysis of the questionnaire were used to design the second phase of the sequential mixed method which involved semi structured interviews with seven senior pharmacists, one from each of the seven hospitals. Analysis yielded three overarching categories: Technology, Internalisation and Motivation. A follow up feedback survey at the end of a lecture, of a group of pharmacy students enhanced the overall findings of the study and revealed a very high degree of interest and acceptance of Pharmacovigilance reporting systems and an expressed desire for its inclusion as a subject in its own right in their training programme. Conflicting epistemological positions inherent in a mixed method are candidly admitted and no attempt is made to circumvent this difficulty. Rather, the enhanced nature of the findings is highlighted despite the opposing knowledge claims of both approaches. A key finding was that 59% of the respondents were unaware of the Saudi National Pharmacovigilance centre (NPC) and reporting arrangements. The problems of lack of internet access and of suitable reporting forms were important contributory reasons for the under-usage of the system. There is a need to raise awareness of all pharmacists of the importance of the knowledge and practice of Pharmacovigilance. Technological solutions should be implemented to facilitate reporting at all levels. Continuing professional development should include Pharmacovigilance. Resistance to change can be addressed by identifying the motivational factors that can lead to a more wholehearted acceptance of the importance of Pharmacovigilance for patient care and well-being. Indeed, these could well be the focus of future studies. / Ministry of Interior, KSA

Yes / Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the most important factors that could predict the Saudi customer’s continued intention towards adoption of mobile banking. Design/methodology/approach The proposed conceptual model was based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and task-technology fit (TTF) model. This is also expanded by considering two additional factors: perceived privacy and perceived security. By using a self-administered questionnaire, the data were collected from a convenience sample of Saudi banking customers from different parts of Saudi Arabia. Findings The main results based on structural equation modelling analyses supported the impact of perceived privacy, perceived security, perceived usefulness and TTF on the customers’ continued intention to use mobile banking. Research limitations/implications The moderation influence of the demographic factors (i.e. age, gender, income level, educational level) was not tested. The data were also collected using a self-report questionnaire; however, it would be more accurate to utilise more statistics from the bank database about the users of m-banking. Originality/value This study represents a worthy attempt to test such novel technology (m-banking) in the KSA where there is a scarcity of literature. A considerable theoretical contribution was also made by integrating the TTF model with the TAM in addition to consider privacy and security in one single model. Moreover, considering both perceived privacy and security in the current model creates an accurate picture about the adoption of m-banking especially as there are a limited number of m-banking studies that have considered privacy and security alongside the TTF model and TAM in the same model.

This dissertation presents a case study of agricultural land use patterns and marketing aspects in the Taif region of Saudi Arabia. This area is one of importance to the overall agricultural future of Saudi Arabia, being a major producer of fruits, vegetables and dates in the Kingdom. In recent years, increases in personal income associated with oil production in the Kingdom have created significant changes in the types of crops grown as well as the way of life of the small farmer. These changes include the following: (1) Because better paying jobs and an enhanced lifestyle are luring farmers to the large urban areas, fewer workers are available for labor on the farms. (2) Large government subsidies have created a situation where the small farmer finds it no longer profitable to grow cereal crops as he traditionally did. (3) A lack of adequate refrigerated trucks and an increase in salinity in groundwater has caused farmers near the market centers of Makkah and Jeddah to cut fruit trees and replant with vegetables that can withstand more saline water and can be transported to the nearby markets more easily than those framers living in the farther areas of the region. What the author concludes is that increased attention to the problems of the small farmer in the region is necessary so that food supplies will be maintained to feed a growing population and so that self-sufficiency can be achieved. Additional support by the government in the way of subsidies and loans and more programs to educate farmers in marketing techniques and improved farm methods and management must be developed. And finally, the farmers should work together, sharing information and resources for the common good of all small farmers in the region.

The aim of this study was to investigate the vitamin B-6 status of Saudi adult males and compare the status between rural and urban subjects. Fifty-one adult male subjects were recruited from urban (n=31) and rural (n=20) populations of Riyadh. These subjects were reclassified to cigarette smokers (n=19), water pipe smokers (n=5) and non-smokers (n=27). The study also investigated the intake of macronutrients and selected micronutrients. In addition, the study investigated other health indicators including Body Mass Index (BMI), hematocrit, hemoglobin, plasma alkaline phosphatase activity and albumin concentration, urinary creatinine and urea nitrogen excretion. The mean of vitamin B-6 intake, B-6 to protein ratio, plasma pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) concentration and urinary 4-PA excretion in urban group were 2.18 ± 0.62 mg/day, 0.022 ± 0.008 mg/g, 39.3 ± 18.0 nmol/L and 4.6 ± 2.3 μmol/day, respectively. In rural group, these measures were 2.15 ± 0.65 mg/day, 0.021 ± 0.004 mg/g, 40.5 ± 14.6 nmol/L and 4.4 ± 2.3 (μmol/day, respectively. These measures indicated adequate status with no significant difference between the two groups. The mean intake of calcium, folate, vitamin D, zinc and dietary fiber was lower than recommendation of the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) in both groups. Health indicators were within normal range except for BMI, which indicated a prevalence of overweight and obesity in both urban (27.1 ± 5.5 Kg/m²) and rural (28.2 ± 6.0 Kg/m²) subjects. Comparison of the three smoking groups showed that the water pipe smokers compared to cigarette smokers and non-smokers groups had significantly higher mean intake of vitamin B-6 (2.51 ± 0.73 mg/day), which resulted in higher concentrations of plasma PLP, pyridoxal (PL), red blood cells PLP and urinary 4-PA (54.9 ± 23.1 nmol/L, 21.5 ± 10.0 nmol/L, 33.7 ± 8.5 nmol/L and 6.9 ± 4.7 μmol/day, respectively). Cigarette smokers had significantly lower concentration of plasma PLP (30.9 ± 12.5 nmol/L) compared to non-smokers (40.0 ± 12.9 nmol/L) without a significant difference in vitamin B-6 intake. Hematocrit and hemoglobin were significantly higher in smokers (50 ± 3% and 167 ± 11 g/L, respectively) compared to non-smokers (48 ± 3% and 160 ± 9 g/L, respectively). The results of this study suggest that vitamin B-6 status of adult males in Riyadh is adequate with no urban vs. rural variation. / Graduation date: 2004

The problem of this study concerns the needs of female students and their perceptions of satisfaction with the role of the two female institutions of higher education in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: King Abdul-Aziz University (KAU) and the College of Education for Girls.

Cyber aggression came about as a result of advances in information communication technology and the aggressive usage of the technology in real life. Cyber aggression can take on many forms and facets. However, the main focus of this study is cyberbullying and cyberstalking through information sharing practices that might constitute digital aggressive acts. Human aggression has been extensively investigated. Studies focusing on understanding the causes and effects that can lead to physical and digital aggression have shown the prevalence of cyber aggression in different settings. Moreover, these studies have shown strong relationship between cyber aggression and the physiological and physical trauma on both perpetrators and their victims. Nevertheless, the literature shows a lack of studies that could measure the level of acceptance and tolerance of these dangerous digital acts. This study is divided into two main stages; Stage one is a qualitative pilot study carried out to explore the concept of cyber aggression and its existence in Saudi Arabia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 Saudi social media users to collect understanding and meanings of cyber aggression. The researcher followed the Colaizzi’s methods to analyze the descriptive data. A proposed model was generated to describe cyber aggression in social media applications. The results showed that there is a level of acceptance to some cyber aggression acts due to a number of factors. The second stage of the study is focused on developing scales with reliable items that could determine acceptability and tolerability of cyber aggression. In this second stage, the researcher used the factors discovered during the first stage as source to create the scales’ items. The proposed methods and scales were analyzed and tested to increase reliability as indicated by the Cronbach’s Alpha value. The scales were designed to measure how acceptable and tolerable is cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking in Saudi Arabia and the sharing of some information in social media applications. The results show a strong tolerance level of those activities. This study is a valuable resource for advanced-level students, educators, and researchers who focus on cyber security, cyber psychology, and cyber aggression in social network sites.

The development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been associated with its growing petroleum industry since late 1930s. This development has created a sudden wealth in the country that shaped its labour market as well as its skill formation systems in the years after. It has also, thanks to the government involvement, developed the country’s world class economy and its evolving private sector. However, this involvement has also created a duel labour market in which Saudis expect employment in the government while expatriates are continuously employed in private organizations. Employment in the government was always available to Saudis regardless of their qualifications which are dominated by theoretical literary majors over scientific and technical degrees. In the early days of the country’s development this did not produce major concerns to the government nor to Saudis. However, the country is producing one of the highest growth rates in the world with the majority of its citizens are under the age of 19. Government employment is always limited as the majority of employment opportunities are available in the country’s private sector. Since the late 1980s, this has generated high rates of unemployment among Saudis as government employment reached its peak and as the private sector continues in recruiting millions of cheap expatriates to increase its profits and competitiveness. This is creating an unbalanced labour market structure as well as economic, political and social problems. A number of government initiatives have been introduced to rectify such dilemma. One of which is Saudization to replace the country’s 4.7 million of expatriates recruited mainly (95%) in the private sector with as many qualified Saudis as possible. However, such efforts has not yet produced fruitful results as the private sector is still recruiting expatriates and as skill formation systems are still producing Saudis with incompatible skills, knowledge and attitudes with the private labour market needs. This research assumes that ineffective Saudization in the private sector is not the core problem of the employment process in Saudi Arabia. In fact it is the outcome of the government’s heavy and unnecessary involvement and control over skill formation systems in the Kingdom especially over the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVT) which is the main skill formation provider for the private labour market This involvement imposes the government’s rigid bureaucracy and limited funding on a very dynamic, flexible and self-sufficient economy like the private market in Saudi Arabia that is operating in a very competitive and changeable environment. Investigation of such argument against empirical findings from interviews with a number of government, quasigovernment and private sector managers supports such conclusion. It even illustrates that government involvement and bureaucratization is hindering the implementation of Saudization strategy itself in private organizations. Recommendations are made about changing the role of GOTEVT to create industry-led training organizations to serve and link the outcomes of this skill formation organization to the employment needs of the labour market and to the needs of the economy in general.

The brain drain emerged as a phenomenon in the Sudan in the early 1970's when a change in the political system was followed by a change in the economic situation. The oil price increases created a dynamic process that led to attractive employment conditions in the petroleum producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and to depressed economic conditions in the developing countries like the Sudan. The purposes of the study are to (a) obtain information on the Sudanese professionals working in Saudi Arabia, (b) determine what major factors influence their migration, and (c) to develop policy recommendations on the flow of migration from the Sudan. The population of this study were Sudanese professionals living in Saudi Arabia. Data were generated through surveying a sample of 300 subjects selected randomly from the defined population. A survey questionnaire based on the research questions was developed for this study. Data from 263 respondents were analyzed. The findings of the study suggest that the majority of the Sudanese professionals working in Saudi Arabia are male, between 30 to 40 years of age. They have many years of experience and a high level of qualifications. The factors that led to their migration are: (a) high cost of living in the Sudan, (b) low salary, (c) money shortage, (d) high cost of housing, (e) little opportunity for advancement, and (f) shortage of basic necessities. It is realized that migration has costs and benefits for the Sudan. Government policies should be directed to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs. It is recommended that the government should adopt policies to regulate migration and assure the Sudanese expatriates of the efficient execution of these policies, attract their remittances through exemption and facilities, and work toward eliminating or reducing the causes of migration.

The purpose of this qualitative, explorative descriptive study was to describe how registered nurses at a specific tertiary hospital perceive the annual performance appraisal. A sample of 20 registered surgical nurses working in the ten Surgical Care Divisions was purposively selected to meet the inclusion criteria. Data was collected through two focus group interviews with 10 participants each. The transcribed interviews were manually analysed according to Collaizzi‟s (1978) method. Findings were described according to six main themes, of which the last theme described the nurses‟ suggestions for improving the annual performance appraisal. The 15 sub-themes addressed, among other things, the process of conducting annual performance appraisals, scoring the performances, incentives, loyalty to the hospital, communication, and competency certification of registered nurses. Recommendations were made for developing guidelines to ensure a standardised process of annual performance appraisal and to involve all stakeholders in the review of the competency assessment certification process. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)