Psychobiological predictors of emotionality were evaluated in relations to complex reaction and movement performances have been considered as the significant aspect of research interest. Considerable research base confirms that the expert players employ more pertinent search strategies, eliminate irrelevant cues which enable them to effectively anticipate action requirements and they have superior ability to use cue-related information to reliably anticipate occurrence of relevant events. Present study was aimed at identification of intricate relationship between the ability of the high performing swimmers (National - level swimmers of Malaysia) in anticipatory cue-utilization and corresponding autonomic phasic skin conductance responses isolated from the tonic measures. Altogether two-hundred and twenty-five individuals having high athletic calibre, and holding top-positions in recently held (within the period March 2011 up to the June 2011) National and International (Mostly ASEAN level) meets volunteered as the participants in this study. Simultaneous evaluation of autonomic arousal modulation (habituation paradigm tonic and phasic measures of skin conductance) was done when the swimmers were engaged in cue-related anticipatory task, associated with complex reaction performance. For this purpose, participants were evaluated intermittently (twice within the calendar year August 2010 - June 2011) with the identical research paradigm. Perceived sense of competence as well as the subjective feelings of apprehension of loosing was explored, and attempts were made to identify the obscure subjective expression of cognitive-emotional make-up, in explaining differential performance outcomes evident in the participants. Findings of multiple linear and polynomial regression analyses however suggested direct, inverse and supportive relationships between decomposition of skin conductance tonic and phasic autonomic components related to cognitive-affective and affective motivational aspects of sports behaviour explaining pathways to both excellent and debilitative performance outcomes during practice sessions as well as in actual competitive situations.
There is a need to develop an Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) Critical Success Factors (CSF) Monitoring among gas contractor in Malaysia. Critical Success Factors (CSF) can be used for future implementation, adaptation and practice for gas contractor work for both by clients and contractors in Malaysia. The main purpose of CSF implementation is to reduce the number of accident related with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). The need for CSF is due to the requirement by law and standard that require companies to establish an arrangement related to the identified OSH risks. The objective of this study is to assess the established of OSHMS among gas contractor in Peninsular Malaysia and to identify the CSF imposed by these industries. A cross sectional study for eighty gas contractor companies using established questionnaire has been done. All data consolidated in order to determine the OSHMS and it CSF among gas contractor in Peninsular Malaysia that has registered with Department of Occupational Safety and Health. Established questionnaire are based on OSHMS MS 1722:2011 elements requirement No 1: Policy, No 2: Organizing, No 3: Planning and Implementation, No 4: Evaluation and No 5: Action for Improvement as parameters to come out with organization means and Z-scores. Descriptive statistic showed that element mean (standard deviation) score for policy is 75(6.6), for Organizing is 63(5.2), for Planning and Implementation is 59(9.4), for Evaluation is 66(5.1) and Action for Improvement is 63(1.3). Percentage of company that complies with the main element for Policy is 15%, for Organizing is 8.8%, for Planning and Implementation is 11.3%, for evaluation is 11.3% and for Action for improvement is 13.8%. Percentage of companies that partially comply with Policy element is distributed between 61.0% to 85.0% which is 76.3 %, for Organizing score is mainly distributed between 46.0% to 60.0% which is 62.5%, for planning and Implementation score for 80 companies distributed mainly in group score between 46.0 to 60.0% which is 56.3 %, for Evaluation the partially comply score is distributed in group score between 61.0% to 85.5% which is 41 % and for Action for Improvement partially comply score, the distribution is mainly distribute in range of 61.0% to 85.0% which is 62.5 %. Z-score for element policy is five points from policy mean, for organizing Z-score is three points from Organizing mean, for Planning and Implementation the Z-score is three points from Planning and Implementation mean, for Evaluation the Z-score is three points from evaluation mean and for Action for improvement Z-score is two to three points from Action for Improvement mean. Percentage of compliance with OSHMS MS 1722:2011 elements by gas contractors in almost main element and sub element are still low and can be further improved by focusing on all company element score for continual improvement of OSH elements compliances.
MeSH terms: Accidents; Cross-Sectional Studies; Industry; Malaysia; Organizations; Surveys and Questionnaires; Risk; Occupational Health
Studies have identified working postures as a major risk factors associated with Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) in industries. This study investigated the prevalence of WMSD among assembly workers in Malaysia and how psychosocial factors such as personal values and workers relationship with family and superior are associated with discomfort and pain. A survey was conducted among 127 workers at assembly process in the manufacturing industry. The workers were aged 28.74±6.74 years and 64.6% of them were males. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the effect of workplace factors on WMSD at different body regions. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to investigate association between psychosocial factors and occurrence of discomfort and pain. Only occupation and job activities revealed any significant different with WMSD in the major body regions while there was no significant difference in gender, age and work duration classifications. Shoulder painis the most prevalent in terms of frequency and intensity of occurrence. Psychosocial issues that have to do with person values, effect of job on family relationship and workers rapport with superiors are all found to be associated with the discomfort and pain among the occupational group. Employers and concerned government agencies need to take more proactive steps in tackling the problem as the occurrence of WMSD will have a significant effect on the overall wellbeing of the working population.
MeSH terms: Analysis of Variance; Family Relations; Government Agencies; Humans; Industry; Malaysia; Male; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Occupations; Pain; Posture; Surveys and Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Shoulder; Prevalence; Workplace; Manufacturing Industry
The main objective of this study is to determine the association between respirable hexavalent chromium compounds with urinary β2-microglobulin levels among welders in an automotive components manufacturing plant. 49 welders and 39 workers involved in stamping process were selected as the exposed and the comparative group. β2-microglobulin is a protein renal tubular dysfunction marker that can indicate renal dysfunction caused by heavy metal. Air samples of worker’s breathing zone were collected using personal air sampling pump and filter papers. Filter papers were then diluted and analysed with Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Workers’ urine samples were collected at the end of 8-hour work shift and analysed with β2-microglobulin ELISA Kit (IBL-Hamburg) and a microtiter reader. Meanwhile, creatinine levels were analysed with creatinine test strips and Reflotron®. A mean concentration of respirable hexavalent chromium compounds in air for the exposed group was 0.135 ± 0.043μg/m3 while for the non-exposed group was 0.124 ± 0.029μg/m3. The mean level of urinary β2-microglobulin per creatinine for the exposed group was 84.996 ± 39.246μg/g while that of the comparative group was 61.365 ± 21.609μg/g. The concentrations of respirable hexavalent chromium compounds were higher in the exposed group compared to the comparative group (Z=-2.444, p=0.015). β2-microglobulin level was also higher in the exposed group compared to the non-exposed group (t=3.821, p=
Homocysteine could be a mechanism that underlies the effects of lead on cardiovascular system. This study aims to identify the relationship between lead exposure and homocysteine levels among workers. A comparative cross-sectional study was carried out on 80 workers of an automotive components manufacturing factory; that comprised of 40 exposed workers and 40 non-exposed workers. Blood samples of respondents were taken by fingerprick. The blood samples were analyzed for blood lead concentration by using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry Graphite Furnace Model GBC 908AA. Besides that, ELISA Kit was used to show the homocysteine level among the respondents. Questionnaires were used to obtain demography information of respondents. Results from the statistical analysis showed that the mean blood lead concentration for exposed respondents was 5.53±4.74 μg/dL and 3.53±2.81 μg/dL for the comparative respondents. Mann-Whitney U test showed that there was no significance difference between the mean blood lead concentration of the exposed and comparative group (z=-1.178; p=0.075). The blood lead concentration ranged 0.68-17.95 among the exposed group and with a range of 0.084-11.96 for the comparative group. The mean homocysteine level (μmol/L) was 32.48±2.481μmol/L for the exposed group and 16.50±4.0960 μmol/L for the comparative group. There was a significant difference in homocysteine level (μmol/L) between the exposed (32.48±2.481) and comparative (16.50±4.0959) groups (z = -7.699, p
Manual work is associated with increased lung cancer risk possibly because of increased exposure to occupational and other carcinogens, reduced use of health care services and/or a less healthy lifestyle. The aim of this study was to examine whether the association between manual work and lung cancer risk has changed over time. Three separate retrospective studies were carried out over a 10-year period (1996-1997, 1998-2000 and 2003-2005) in patients attending a bronchoscopy clinic to investigate lung cancer risk in an area of Manchester characterised by high deprivation and unemployment. Cases (n=321) were patients newly diagnosed with a tumour of the lung, trachea or bronchus and controls (n=542) were patients free of tumours at the time of, and prior to, examination. Patients were interviewed using the same structured questionnaire for associations between risk factors and lung cancer examined. The study population in all three studies was similar with little difference in smoking history. In each study smoking was associated with lung cancer risk. Lung cancer risk was higher in manual workers (compared to managers and other professionals) in the first (OR 2.50, 95% CI 1.20 – 5.05) and second study (OR 2.73, 95% CI 0.97 – 7.70) but not the third (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.58 – 1.61). However, the summary odds ratio (meta-OR) for lung cancer in manual worker was 1.81 (95% 1.75 – 1.87) after controlling for sex, age and smoking. This study suggested that even after taking into account known occupational and environmental causes of cancer, there was a residual cancer risk associated with manual work, high risk working populations of lung cancer. However this appears to have attenuated recently for as yet unknown reasons.
Introduction: Entrepreneurship CMIE 1022 module was introduced in February 2012 and was made compulsory to all first year undergraduate students in all faculties of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). The main objective of CMIE 1022 is to expose the students to entrepreneurship with implementation of online teaching and business game simulation.
Method: Module evaluation form was distributed among medical and nursing students at the end of the module.
Result: One hundred seventy-seven students responded to the survey with 50.3% of the respondents agreed that their soft skill have improved, 37.8% for increased awareness of entrepreneurship, 25.6% has increased their interest in entrepreneurship and 22.22% agreed to apply in their own courses. More than three quarter of the students agreed that the lecturers and teaching assistants teaching methodology were acceptable. However, only 18.4% agreed that this course should be taken by all students of UKM.
Conclusion: This study showed despite increase in soft skills and interests including high performance of the academics, most students disagreed on the introduction of CMIE 1022 course to all UKM students. It is suggested that the course curriculum to be reviewed in order to achieve the objectives.
Introduction: Attitudes towards animal welfare are important in influencing how animals are treated. Studies of attitudes towards animal welfare in veterinary students are scarce. It is hope that the findings will enhace a diverse research in the future in order to explore variety of factors in relation to animal welfare since such study is currently limited.
Objective: The study is to determine the associations of gender,year of study and empathy level of undergraduate DVM students in UPM into their attitude towards animal welfare.
Method: Questionnaires were given to 440 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine undergraduate students in UPM to study the associations between gender,year of study and empathy level with attitudes towards animal welfare. Data were collected from respondents through two sets of self guided questionnaires. Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) which assessed empathy level where only two sub-scales from the IRI were used. Empathic Concern (EC) and Perspective Taking (PT). Animal Attitude Scales (AAS) were used to assess attitudes towards animal welfare. Data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.
Result: 367 (83.4%) out of 440 students participated in this study. Antu-animal welfare attitude (74.9%) was the highest compared to the pro-animal welfare attitude (25.1%). Analysis showed a significant difference (p0.005) between gender and attitudes towards animal welfare (p=0.057) as well as between empathy level and attitudes towards animal welfarefor empathic concern sub-scale (p=0.194) and perspective taking sub-scale (p=0.320).
Conclusion: Majority of sudents were categorized as anti-animal welfareand the attitudes were significantly different among years of study. Female and malestudents have nomsignificant differences in their attitudes towards animal welfare. Students with ggod and poor empathy level also have no significant difference in their attitudes towards animal welfare.
MeSH terms: Animals; Animal Welfare; Attitude; Empathy; Female; Surveys and Questionnaires; Students
Objective: This paper intended to review and analyse relevant published articles which have studied or applied multimedia as the educational medium for patients or their caregivers. The benefits were also recorded.
Method: The search was performed across the databases EBSCO Host, Springer Link, Science Direct and PubMed for relevant studies. Only full-text articles using English as a language of publication were included. Eligible articles included any usage of multimedia intervention as health information delivery for patients or caregivers. No restriction for publication date was set to permit a wider capture.
Result: Twenty articles met the inclusion criteria involving a total of 1,797 respondents. The studies have been conducted in various countries mostly in North American region followed by Europe. The focused disease for each study varied from asthma to cognitive impairment but most were on cancer. Problems in caregiving and depression were also reported. The overall data suggested that the multimedia-based education had generated modest improvement in self-efficacy, patient satisfaction, coping skills, and perceptions of social support. Cost benefits were also recorded. Additionally, patients’ behavioural changes were well maintained in parallel with the intervention programme.
Conclusion: The evolution of multimedia as an educational medium is growing and its incorporation has benefited health education management especially in improving patients’ and their family’s psychosocial outcomes. However, due to still limited scientific evidence to support its value, further multimedia-based interventions should be developed out of the need to share information and knowledge among patients as well as caregivers.
MeSH terms: Adaptation, Psychological; Asthma; Cognition Disorders; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Depression; Depressive Disorder; Europe; Health Education; Humans; Language; Neoplasms; Surveys and Questionnaires; Social Support; United States; Caregivers; Patient Satisfaction; Multimedia; Self Efficacy; PubMed
Journal business models are basically classified based on the source of income to cover publication costs and in general there are two main journal business models which are the toll-access and open-access. These leading to a question that still remains around the ethics of publishing academic work across the different journal business models in terms of (a) editorial decision-making and (b) the dissemination of research that has not been appropriately peer-reviewed for quality and rigor. This paper discussed about these two areas based on the literature and the authors' observations.
Community and family case study (CFCS) is a community based educational (CBE) programme commenced in 1980 at School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia. It serves to help and resolve health needs of the individual patients, family and their community. This will help to develop generic skills such as organization, communication and problem solving in relation to local norms, beliefs and socio-cultural influences. Students should have good awareness, sensitivity and empathic response based on health needs and environment that they are living in. Knowledge, skills, attitudes, emotions and values are repeatedly exposed to inculcate optimal learning environment with the community, as well as triggered response by the student to give back to the community by volunteerism. CFCS activism can be revitalized within the individual and group context. This can be achieved by multi-dimensional learning, collaborative effort, effective leadership and supervision, creative programme initiation, effectual research activities and sustainable service to the community. It is hopeful with active community engagement, life experiences learning process, self-directed and reflective learning, students are able to acquire refined attributes such as skills, behaviour, knowledge and attitudes, towards successful personal growth and advancement.
MeSH terms: Attitude; Communication; Emotions; Empathy; Humans; Leadership; Learning; Life Change Events; Malaysia; Problem Solving; Students; Volunteers
Introduction: In order to produce competent physiotherapy graduates with the generic attributes much sought after by the health care providers in the country, the higher education institution needs to ensure the educational environment of the school is positive. Students' positive perception of their educational environment would facilitate their learning experience to be more meaningful and relevant. Objective: The aim of this study was to measure physiotherapy students' perception of their educational environment at the School of Physiotherapy AIMST University and Kolej Sains Kesihatan Bersekutu Sungai Buloh and to identify the areas of concern for remedial measures. Method: This research was a cross sectional study consisting of two phases using both quantitative followed by qualitative methods. The DREEM inventory consisting of 50 items under 5 domains was circulated to all the students (N=158) from both schools (AIMST and KSKB). The item mean scored below 2.00 were considered as problem areas and it was explored further through focus group discussion (N=12) as a qualitative study. Result: The overall mean score on the 50 items was 132.84 (SD 19.22) out of 200. Students' Perception of Learning (SPOL) scored the highest 32.34 (SD 4.17) followed by students' perception of Atmosphere (SPOA) 30.63 (SD 4.84), Students Perception of Teachers (SPOT) scored 30.52 (SD 3.98),Students Academic Self Perception (SASP) scored 22.03 (SD 3.20) and the last domain Students' Social Self Perception (SSSP) scored the least 17.32 (SD 19.22).All the domains scored toward more positive side of the educational environment. Four items scored less than 2.00 and these items were explored further with focus group discussion. Students from both schools had similarities as well as differences in their views over the concerned areas. Conclusion: This study revealed important information regarding the low scored items. Overall the students from both schools perceived their schools positively. Implementing the remedial measures for the problem areas would further enhance the respective educational environment and thus provide a conducive place for physiotherapy students to excel in their academic endeavour.
Introduction: Appropriate professional conduct of clinical teacher is vital in their medicine practice. In UKM medical centre Malaysia, personal and professional development (PPD) of future medical professionals is greatly emphasized. The objective of this study was to determine the medical students' perception about the professional conduct of their clinical teachers at UKM medical centre. Methods: It was an online questionnaire survey conducted among the clinical students enquiring about the professional conduct of their clinical teachers. There were five statements and one open ended question which described students' preference about PPD teaching- learning method, expectation on PPD session, need of teachers training and experience about the excellent and inappropriate professional conduct of clinical teachers. The open ended question described what students had observed regarding the 'doctor-patient relationship' medical ethics and 'student-teacher relationship. A total of 77 questionnaires were returned after complete evaluation. The data were compiled and analysed using SPSS version 20 and the answers to the open ended questions were transcribed. Result: Role modelling was the preferred teaching-learning method for PPD as stated by 38% respondents; subsequent preferred methods were small group (30%), role play (24%), large group (7%) and reflective writing (1%). Majority (67.5%) respondents indicated that professional conduct of their clinical teachers was frequent enough as they had expected while 29.9% claimed that professional conduct was infrequently emphasized. Excellent professional conduct of clinical teachers was witnessed by 73% respondents while 27% indicated that they had never seen excellent conduct. When asked about inappropriate professional behaviours by clinical teachers, 53% indicated to have witnessed. Qualitative data also revealed both positive and negative experiences as reflected in open comments. According to 70% respondents clinical teachers required training to apply PPD in their daily practices. Conclusion: Professional conduct of clinical teachers as perceived by the students was excellent and frequents enough with experience of inappropriate behaviour too. Role modeling was the preferred teaching method while attention needed on reflective assignment. Educators must emphasize on role modelling in their daily practices and curriculum planners should give due importance on training needs of clinical teachers to apply PPD in their daily practices.
Evaluating scientific quality of a journal is a notoriously cumbersome problem that so far no standard consensus. Preferably, scientific journals should be examined by real experts in the field and given scores on quality according to standard guidelines. Nevertheless, information scientists (i.e. scientometricians) have developed a diverse range of tools to examine scientific merits of scientific publications that mainly depending on various indexes that counting citations. The impact factor (IF) is commonly used to examine the visibility of a journal. It is the average number of citations a paper of a journal attracts in the two years following its publication.
For pre-post and cross-over design analysis of numerical data, paired t-test is the simplest analysis to perform. Planning such study, it is imperative to calculate appropriate sample size required for the test to detect hypothesized difference. However, the sample size formula requires determination of standard deviation of difference, which is not commonly reported. In this article, the author guides the reader to calculation of standard deviation of difference from standard deviation of each separate occasion.
Medical students in Malaysia face enormous amount of stress that can compromise their medical training. A brief group Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (bMBCT)/Mindful-Gym) programme has been developed to help medical students cope more effectively with stress. The intervention was found to be effective for reducing stress and increasing subjective well-being among medical students in University Putra Malaysia (UPM). One of the training methodologies used in the programme, ‘Mindful-S.T.O.P.,’ was particularly popular among the students. The aim of this paper is to describe the concept and application of this mindfulness-based psychological tool (Mindful-S.T.O.P.) for stress reduction in medical students.
Aim: The objective of the present study was to assess the validity and reliability of Malay version of the QOLLTI-F questionnaire.
Methods: A total of 80 Malay caregivers of cancer patients in an outpatient oncology clinic were enrolled in this study. A translated QOLLTI-F questionnaire of 16 items was used in order to assess their quality of life. Demographic characteristics were recorded. Both face and content validity of the translated version were carried out by professionals and the construct validity of the questionnaire was assessed by exploratory factor analysis.
Results: Exploratory factor analysis led to the extraction of seven factors and this was consistent with the English version. Cronbach Alpha coefficient showed good consistency of the questions within the sub-scales (Cronbach's alpha > 0.7).
Conclusion: This study was confined to a Malay population, and the analyses were potentially limited by a small sample size .Nevertheless, the translated questionnaire demonstrated valid and reliable psychometric properties when administered to Malay caregivers. Future studies are needed to see if this instrument can fit other samples in different settings and populations.
Study site: Oncology clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
MeSH terms: Demography; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Hospitals, University; Humans; Language; Malaysia; Neoplasms; Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; Outpatients; Psychometrics; Quality of Life; Surveys and Questionnaires; Translating; Reproducibility of Results; Caregivers; Sample Size
Introduction: Teaching strategy for nursing students need to be varied for the future preparation and to increase confident level in delivering quality care to patients. Interprofessional learning (IPL) is a way to encourage collaboration among health professional teams that will drive them to collaborate with, from and about other profession and thus, it allow students to have greater knowledge. Currently, they are unable to learn together during the clinical posting due to professional boundaries. Objective: To explore nursing student knowledge and perception on interprofessional learning. Method: This paper presents a focus group discussion with a group of nursing students (n= 8). A semi structured guide was used and focused on knowledge, experiences and benefit related to IPL. Result: Data was analysed and four major themes emerged; 1. learning with, from and about other health professionals, 2. communication skills, 3. teamwork and 4. future preparation. Conclusion: This study suggested that the interprofessional learning in the teaching and learning strategy should be introduced to the nursing students as to involve them with interprofessional learning and extend their understanding on other health professionals roles. In addition, it is an opportunity for them to work collaboratively with other health professionals.
MeSH terms: Cooperative Behavior; Health Personnel; Humans; Learning; Perception; Students, Nursing; Focus Groups
Context: Question vetting is important to ensure validity, reliability, and other quality indicators of assessment tools, including the MCQ. Faculty members invest a substantial amount of time and effort into the MCQ vetting process. However, there is shortage of scientific evidence showing its effectiveness and at which level it needs to be focused on. This study aimed to provide scientific evidence regarding the effects of question vetting process on students’ examination performance by looking at their scores and pass-fail outcomes.
Method: A parallel randomized control trial was conducted on third year medical students in a medical school. They were randomly assigned into two equal groups (i.e. control and experimental). Two mock examinations were conducted (i.e. time I and time II). At time I, non-vetted MCQs were administered to both groups as a baseline measurement. At time II, vetted MCQs were administered to the experimental group, while the same non-vetted MCQs were administered to the control group.
Results: Out of 203 students, 129 (63.5%) participated in both mock examinations. 65 students were in the control group and 64 students were in the experimental group. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) in mean examination scores and pass-fail outcomes between or within the control and experimental groups.
Conclusion: This study indicated that the MCQ vetting process did not influence examination performance. Despite these findings, the MCQ vetting process should still be considered an important activity to ensure that test items are developed at the highest quality and standards. However, it can be suggested that such activity can be done at the departmental level rather than at the central level.
MeSH terms: Faculty; Physical Examination; Schools, Medical; Students, Medical; Reproducibility of Results; Control Groups
Autonomy is widely accepted to be the third pillar of medical ethics. However, if it comes to refusal of life saving treatments, some extra considerations are necessary, especially if decisions are made by surrogate decision makers. Four cases of problematic decision making are presented here, followed by a discussion about the cultural and religious misconceptions about the rights of surrogate decision makers.