Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Perceptions and attitudes toward psychological health stigma among Saudi male university students in the U.S.(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Almakky, Mohamad A; Mixalis, PoulakisThis qualitative study explores the perceptions and attitudes of Saudi Arabian male international university students in the United States (U.S.) toward psychological health stigma. Guided by the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) method, 13 participants were interviewed to understand how their cultural background, religious beliefs, and experiences in the U.S. shaped their views of therapy, stigma, and psychological well-being. Participants were recruited using convenience and snowball sampling and completed semi-structured interviews that examined their evolving perspectives before and during their time in the U.S. Findings revealed seven major domains, including cultural influences, barriers to therapy, coping strategies, the role of religion, and the impact of psychological health awareness campaigns. While many participants initially described strong stigma and reluctance toward seeking psychological support, often rooted in cultural, religious, or masculine expectations, they also reported significant shifts in attitude after exposure to the more open and supportive psychological health climate in the U.S. Influences such as peer encouragement, media campaigns, university resources, and observing therapy’s benefits among peers contributed to increased openness and even advocacy for psychological support. The study highlights the complex interplay among culture, stigma, and adaptation, offering practical implications for therapists, universities, and policymakers seeking to support Saudi and other international students. Recommendations emphasize culturally responsive care, gender-sensitive interviewing practices, the importance of psychological health education in both U.S. and Saudi institutions, and the potential of faith-based and peer-driven outreach to reduce stigma. This research contributes to the limited literature on Saudi male international students and psychological health, offering insights that align with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals to promote psychological well-being and academic success among its global student population.13 0Item Restricted Exploring Resilience, Well-being, and stress in University students: A cross-national Mixed methods analysis between the UK and Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Abulfaraj, Ghalib; Zavos, Helena; Dommett, Eleanor; Upsher, RebeccaGlobally, university students are increasingly stressed, due to high academic workloads, financial, familial, and social responsibilities, which negatively impact their well-being. University support services are unable to cope with the increased demands. To better understand how to address this situation, it is important to examine the relationship between stress and well-being in university students of diverse cultural backgrounds with the view to identifying ways to mitigate their stress. It is also crucial to investigate psycho-social moderators of this relationship and better understand some existing interventions. For example, there are current gaps in the mental health literature regarding the effectiveness of resilience interventions on the well-being and stress levels of on-campus undergraduate and postgraduate university students. Additionally, limited research has explored students’ subjective perceptions of well-being and stress, and moderators of the stress-well-being relationship outside of western countries. This thesis employed three interrelated mixed methods studies to address these research gaps. Chapter 2 is a systematic review that investigated 47 quantitative research studies examining the effects of resilience interventions on the resilience, stress, depression, and anxiety of students. The eligible studies were from 19 countries and included several research designs, although no research was conducted in Saudi Arabia (SA), demonstrating the under-representation of this country in the mental health literature. Results indicate that there is limited evidence of positive effects on depression, but stress and anxiety could be reduced following interventions. Data on well-being data was inconclusive. This study included the first systematic review on the effect of resilience-based interventions on well-being and mental health, featuring several study designs and focusing on higher education students. Chapter 3 is a qualitative study utilising semi-structured interviews. These interviews were conducted with 13 SA and 13 UK students to examine their perceptions of stress, mental health, and well-being. SA and UK-based students had similar responses regarding definitions of stress, mental health, and resilience. However, there were some differences, as SA-based students reported using religious coping as a stress coping method. In addition, within the Saudi sample, some participants noted that being the eldest child in the family was a stressor related to increased responsibilities. This study was the first to compare the perceptions of resilience, mental health, and stress among Saudi and UK university students across all study levels and disciplines. Building on Chapter 3, Chapter 4 is a quantitative survey-based study between SA and UK university students. It aimed to examine whether social support, belonging, family relationships and religious coping moderate the relationship between stress and well-being. Recruited participants included: 163 UK home students, 93 Saudi students in the UK, and 55 students studying in Saudi Arabia. Increased stress among university students was significantly associated with lower well-being levels in all participants. However, there was not much evidence for moderation. However, all moderators positively affected well-being. This study was the first to examine social support, belonging, family relationships, and religious coping as moderators between undergraduate and postgraduate SA and UK students representing various disciplines of study. By addressing the gaps in the literature and highlighting the relationship between stress, resilience, and well-being in diverse cultures, these findings have implications for the development of future well-being interventions. Although this thesis makes essential contributions to the cross-cultural mental health and well-being literature, it is not without limitations. These include issues with the representation of SA national students, assumptions of homogeneity in UK student samples, and an unbalanced gender distribution, which future research should address.13 0Item Restricted Artificial Intelligence for Automatic Attachment Assessment in School-Age Children: An Approach Based on Language and Paralanguage.(Saudi Digital Library, 2025-06-17) Buker, Areej; Vinciarelli, AlessandroAttachment is a psychological construct that provides a framework for understanding how individuals perceive and interpret social interactions, navigate relational dynamics, and experience and regulate their emotional states, particularly under conditions of stress. An attachment style begins to develop within the first few months of life, shaped by a child’s interactions with their primary caregivers. Consistent and nurturing care promotes the development of a secure attachment style, whereas inconsistent or inadequate caregiving often gives rise to insecure attachment patterns. Insecure attachment is linked to a range of challenges, including behavioural issues such as antisocial tendencies; mental health difficulties like anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and body image concerns; and heightened risks of physical health problems, including sleep disturbances. Early recognition and intervention for insecure attachment increases the likelihood of reshaping maladaptive patterns into secure ones, potentially reducing attachment-related challenges. Automated approaches for attachment recognition offer significant benefits, including consistent delivery of assessments, such as the MCAST, and broader accessibility to a wider population. While there are a few available systems for delivering attachment tests (e.g., CMCAST and SAM), the limited studies focused on developing automated classifiers to analyse the collected data have shown a suboptimal performance. These classifiers often struggle to recognise insecure attachment, achieving a maximum Accuracy of only 62.7%. Furthermore, these studies fail to offer insights into the reasoning behind their classifications, missing an opportunity to advance the understanding of attachment in early to middle childhood. This developmental stage—characterised by significant changes that include the expansion of social circles and the internalisation of emotional representations—has historically received less attention in a field predominantly focused on studying attachment markers in infants and adults. This thesis focuses on two primary objectives: enhancing the automated classification of attachment styles in children, particularly insecure attachment, and identifying markers associated with these styles. The study employs two modalities—language and paralanguage— along with emotions derived from both modalities. These modalities are utilised within a unimodal and a multimodal framework. Among all classifiers developed using the same dataset, the language-based unimodal approach demonstrated the highest effectiveness, achieving exceptional performance in recognising insecure attachment with an Accuracy of 82.2%, all while relying on relatively simple methodologies. Furthermore, this research identified linguistic, acoustic, and emotional markers of attachment, offering valuable insights into attachment representations in children.57 0Item Restricted Emotional Walls: Designing Architecture That Speaks the Unspoken(Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), 2025-05) Alkhomairi, Hatim Abdulrahman; Jones, JamesThis thesis investigates how architecture and human emotions connect, linking the physical characteristics of spaces to psychological experiences. It explores how design can evoke emotional responses and how different architectural elements, including light, trigger specific emotional reactions. Using a "Gallery of Emotions" as a foundational project for experimentation, the aim is to develop concepts that are applicable to diverse architectural settings. The design process begins with words that are used to craft atmospheres that evoke targeted emotions. Two complementary approaches guide decision-making: digital software for testing ideas and physical techniques, including sketching and model-making, to achieve a cohesive final design.25 0Item Restricted Challenging the Dominant Eurocentric Worldview Within the Psy-Disciplines: From the Perspective of Saudi Arabian Practitioners(University of Edinburgh, 2025) AlSharef, Lama; Boylston, TomThis study is an ethnographic inquiry into the subjective experience of Saudi mental health practitioners who studied and trained in Western countries and are currently practicing in Saudi Arabia. The objective behind this study is to challenge the dominant Eurocentric worldview within the psy-disciplines and incorporate their voices in order to challenge the power distribution of voice within the psy-disciplines. This research used ethnographic interviews as the primary method of data collection. Throughout the interviews there was an emphasis placed on knowledge, power, language, and culture, therefore a de-colonial perspective of discourse analysis was used as a method. This paper adheres to a de-colonial lens in regards to investigating knowledge production, more specifically within the psy-disciplines. The emphasis on discourse and language unraveled a hermeneutics approach to de-colonising knowledge. The discussion illustrates how translation between different languages and meaning-making can illuminate frictions that arise when dominant languages and conceptual frameworks are used in contexts that differ in linguistic and cultural foundations. Incorporating the voices of Saudi practitioners within the broader discourse of psy- disciplines demonstrated how psy-discipline theories are being modified and adapted to the Saudi context. Additionally, it underscored the significance of incorporating the broader social, economical and political factors in utilising a de-colonial framework in researching knowledge production and practices within the psy-diciplines.21 0Item Restricted Published evidence for effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in improving symptoms for individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)(University College London, 2024) Alhuwaimani, Wid; Selai, Carolin; Petrochilos, PanayiotaAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder that affects a significant portion of the population across the lifespan. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is widely recognized as an effective non-pharmacological intervention for ADHD, particularly in reducing symptoms and improving overall functioning. Objective: This systematic review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of CBT in treating ADHD symptoms, particularly when combined with pharmacological treatments, and to explore the potential benefits of adapted CBT approaches, including digital interventions.42 0Item Restricted Challenging the Dominant Eurocentric Worldview Within the Psy-Disciplines: From the Perspective of Saudi Arabian Practitioners(University of Edinburgh, 2024) AlSharef, Lama; Boylston, TomThis study is an ethnographic inquiry into the subjective experience of Saudi mental health practitioners who studied and trained in Western countries and are currently practicing in Saudi Arabia. The objective behind this study is to challenge the dominant Eurocentric worldview within the psy-disciplines and incorporate their voices in order to challenge the power distribution of voice within the psy-disciplines. This research used ethnographic interviews as the primary method of data collection. Throughout the interviews there was an emphasis placed on knowledge, power, language, and culture, therefore a de-colonial perspective of discourse analysis was used as a method. This paper adheres to a de-colonial lens in regards to investigating knowledge production, more specifically within the psy-disciplines. The emphasis on discourse and language unraveled a hermeneutics approach to de-colonising knowledge. The discussion illustrates how translation between different languages and meaning-making can illuminate frictions that arise when dominant languages and conceptual frameworks are used in contexts that differ in linguistic and cultural foundations. Incorporating the voices of Saudi practitioners within the broader discourse of psy- disciplines demonstrated how psy-discipline theories are being modified and adapted to the Saudi context. Additionally, it underscored the significance of incorporating the broader social, economical and political factors in utilising a de-colonial framework in researching knowledge production and practices within the psy-diciplines.46 0Item Restricted The Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Chronic Pain in Children and Adolescents(William James College, 2024-06-23) Aljarboua, Abdulateef; Peterson, EmmaThere is increasing evidence to suggest that children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are more prone to developing long-term pain issues compared to their peers who have not experienced ACEs. However, there is still a need for more research on the psychological and social risk factors that contribute to chronic pain conditions in children and adolescents. Unlike research on adults, the association between psychological and social risk factors and pain-related outcomes during childhood and adolescence is a relatively new area that has limited research. The current study assessed the association between parental report of lifetime chronic pain in children and adolescents and specific ACEs pertaining to interpersonal stress in families. The association was examined using archival data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). A logistic regression was used to predict the outcome of the dependent variable (chronic pain) based on the probability of the independent variable (ACEs exposure). The results suggest that exposure to ACEs increases the odds of experiencing chronic pain by 1.5 times for children and adolescents. These findings indicate that addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) could be an important approach to reducing chronic pain conditions. Additionally, regularly evaluating ACEs during childhood could offer valuable information about the psychological and social factors that contribute to this type of pain condition.107 0Item Restricted The Effects of Travelling on the Wellbeing of Saudi Millennials(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-10-20) Alashahrani, Shuruq; Ladkin, AdeleIn recent decades, the concept of tourism and wellbeing has gained considerable attention. This research assesses the effects of travel on the wellbeing of Saudi Millennials and their perceptions regarding the importance of tourism in aspects of their wellbeing. It also explores the characteristics and motivations of this specific group towards travel. Using quantitative approaches, a survey was distributed to 535 participants, including both genders. The findings reveal that the majority of Saudi Millennials strongly believe that tourism positively affects their happiness and overall wellbeing. The results further indicate that the act of travelling itself is the biggest motivation for this generation, and it is mostly driven by push motives. Notably, the findings also demonstrate that the quality of social relationships significantly influences the overall wellbeing of Saudi Millennial tourists.27 0Item Restricted How Psychological Factors Can be Leveraged to Enhance Gamified Security Awareness Training?(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-12-05) Alwheepy, Baadr Sulaiman; Taramonli, SandyResearchers’ interest in gamified security awareness training has risen throughout the last decade, particularly due to the gamification’s influence on increasing engagement, participant and learning retention compared to traditional training methods. The effectiveness of all training courses is highly tied to psychology, as it is the underlying factor that influences a learners ambitions to learn and benefit from a training course. In gamification, psychology is often introduced through a verity of gaming elements such as leaderboards, badges, and point systems which when incorporated at an optimal level can induce several psychological feelings such as social pressure, and satisfaction. When these feelings are induced within a training course, they can highly affect the way a training is perceived by learners, making them more or less motivated to engage and participate in learning activities. This study was conducted with the primary goal of assessing the psychological effects imposed by time pressure, feedback, novelty, and socially connected elements within a gamified security awareness training to provide recommendations on ways to optimally implement them in future courses. In order to achieve this goal, a comprehensive analysis was performed on three publicly available datasets that were related to experiments on the application of gamification in multiple contexts. Finally, this study was successful in accomplishing its primary goal, and addressing identified literature gaps in the field by deriving valuable insights on engagement levels raised through the conjunction of leaderboards and feedback, the effects of time constraints on decision making, and the impact of novelty on continuity18 0