Saudi- PSCDR to launch survey on health and life stress 

(MENAFN - Arab News) The Prince Salman Center for Disability Research (PSCDR), in conjunction with a number of scientific local and global bodies, plans to launch a national survey of health and life stress on Feb. 14, 2013 in Riyadh.

A number of national experts and physicians will work under the umbrella of PSCDR to carry out the survey. They are drawn from governmental and research centers including King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC), King Saud University (KSU), the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Central Department of Statistics and Information (of the Ministry of Economy and Planning).

The survey will be jointly carried out in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Harvard and Michigan Universities. The project has been financially supported by the Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) as the strategic partner, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Abraj Capital, MoH and KSU.

The nationwide project, already launched in the Makkah Governorate on Jan 12 and set to last up until June, will continue in Riyadh city until next July. The survey will cover some 10,000 male and female samples over 15 years old scattered over 13 regions of the Kingdom. The samples will be randomly selected from each household and face-to-face interviewed by trained teams. Each team member will have a male and a female conduct the interview with men and women in each household separately. In the interview, the research tool, called "CIDI 3.0", will be used which was developed by Harvard University for the conduction of mental health surveys.

The study is meant to provide mental heath workers and other related decision-makers with a realistic vision that will help them extend preventive treatment and rehabilitation services in the Kingdom.

The survey is also aimed at assessing mental diseases in various parts of the Kingdom, estimate the spread rates of psychiatric cases, the volume of disability caused by mental illness and acquaintance of decision-makers with data and indicators on psychiatric cases for making well-planned decisions on such cases.

The survey also aims to contribute to creating a reliable database on disability and realize consistency in the use of resources being exploited in the Kingdom in meeting the needs of the disabled, according to a press release by PSCDR.

The survey comes in implementation of the PSCDR programs and research aimed to realize its motto "knowledge that benefits mankind" where the PSCDR has used to encourage and fund research activities that benefit Saudi society in particular and mankind in general.

It is to be mentioned that chairman of PSCDR board of trustees Prince Sultan bin Salman has signed a series of deals with MoH, KACST, KFSH&RC, KSU, Ministry of Social Affairs, the Sultan bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian Foundation, WHO, Harvard and Michigan Universities for the implementation of the program.