{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]],"date-time":"2026-10-28T18:50:27Z","timestamp":1793213427559,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,29]],"date-time":"2022-03-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648512000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100016714","name":"University of Sharjah","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["UOS1801050331-P"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UOS1801050331-P"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100016714","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\"><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Mental health literacy (MHL) is an essential competency for all healthcare professionals. In the United Arab Emirates, previous studies reported a low level of MHL among healthcare professionals working with vulnerable populations such as children and adolescents with chronic illnesses. Further in-depth exploration is necessary to build understanding of beliefs and knowledge about mental illness among pediatric health professionals.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec002\"><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Written narratives exploring mental health knowledge were collected from pediatric nurses and analyzed using content analysis. These written narratives were extracted from responses to open-ended questions embedded in a questionnaire completed as part of previous studies. The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research were followed in reporting this study.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec003\"><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The overarching theme that emerged from the data was that nurses struggled to negotiate the complexities of psychological distress and mental illness. Two overlapping sub-themes were identified: (1) professional knowledge was incomplete, confused, and lacking in clarity and (2) professional knowledge was impacted by cultural beliefs and stigma. A third sub-theme reflected how participants identified with others\u2019 suffering and felt powerless to help themselves or others. Participants described stress and mental exhaustion.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec004\"><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Participants\u2019 narratives were characterized by struggles arising from insufficient knowledge, confusion, and deeply-held cultural and religious beliefs. Therefore, they were unable to resolve the conflict between professional knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about mental illness and stigma arising from cultural and religious beliefs\/attitudes. Culturally-specific education is needed for healthcare professionals that addresses contextual, cultural, and religious factors impacting on stigma while actively supporting the healthcare workforce and enabling access to mental health services.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0266224","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,29]],"date-time":"2022-03-29T17:33:05Z","timestamp":1648575185000},"page":"e0266224","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["A qualitative exploration of mental health knowledge among pediatric health professionals in the United Arab Emirates"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5355-8639","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Nabeel","family":"Al-Yateem","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rachel","family":"Rossiter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Muhammad Arsyad","family":"Subu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shameran","family":"Slewa-Younan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Syed","family":"Azizur Rahman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jacqueline 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