The attitudes shown by community towards the mentally ill patient can have implications for recovery. To gather robust evidence regarding community attitudes towards people with mental illness, a data collection is required. A cross sectional study was carried out to examine the community attitudes towards the mentally ill patients and its associated factors in Tampoi Town, Johor among 347 respondents. This study was conducted from June 2012 to June 2013. Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill questionnaire was used to examine public attitudes towards the mentally ill patients. Another questionnaire was used to determine media influence and history or experience with the mentally ill patients was administered by a researcher. The community in this town had a positive attitude towards the mentally ill patients. Benevolence attitude which represent the positive attitude has the highest mean score [37.13 (4.18)]. Social Restrictiveness attitude which represent the negative attitude has the lowest mean score [25.42 (4.82)]. Results indicated that race, educational level and previous experience with the mentally ill patients had a significant association with community attitudes towards the mentally ill patients. Meanwhile, age, gender, religion, occupation, income and media have no association with community attitudes towards the mentally ill patients. These results are expected to help the related parties in conducting various comprehensive and holistic programs or campaign. Specifically, medical social worker should be more sensitive to the public attitude toward the mentally ill patients so that they could recognize the contributing factors on negative attitudes and prevent them.
This study aimed at measuring the quality of life (QOL) among young adults in rural area of Selangor, and determined the factors that affect the QOL scores. A cross-sectional study was conducted among young adults aged 18 to 39 years in rural area of Hulu Langat district, Selangor with a total sample of 308 selected through simple random sampling. Validated Malay version of WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to measure the QOL, which generated overall QOL score and four domains’ scores of physical health, psychological health, social relationship and environmental QOL. The results showed that the highest mean score was social relationship domain 67.07 (18.87), followed by overall QOL 65.10 (17.92), environmental QOL domain 64.88 (12.83), psychological health domain 60.67 (11.88) and physical health domain 58.23 (11.00). Variables such as unemployment, having chronic diseases and mental distress were found to lower the QOL score.
Children less than 6 years old are the most vulnerable group to get harm from Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) exposure, especially their respiratory system. To determine the prevalence of ETS exposure and its association with asthma like symptoms among children less than 6 years old. A cross sectional study was conducted in between January till April 2014 among parents with children less than 6 years old in Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 142 parents were selected by simple random sampling and data were collected using guided questionnaire on ETS exposure and asthma like symptoms (cough and wheeze) among their children. A total of 52.8% of children found to be exposed to ETS, and 43.7% were exposed from their father. ETS exposure significantly associated with cough without cold (adjusted OR=5.46, 95% CI 2.37, 12.61), dry cough at night (adjusted OR=3.74, 95%CI 1.41, 9.95) and cough upon physical activity (adjusted OR=3.08, 95% 1.07, 8.89) among these children. Children less than 6 years old are vulnerable to respiratory problem due to ETS exposure especially on cough symptoms. More strategies should be developing to reduce the exposure to ETS.
The population with normal body mass index (BMI) but with abdominal obesity are most of the time the ‘neglected’ population in terms of health interventions. The aim of this study is to study the prevalence of abdominal obesity and to explore the factors causing abdominal obesity by using waist circumference (WC) measurement. A cross sectional study was conducted among a group of respondents in Tanjung Karang, Selangor, Malaysia from January until June 2010, among those aged 18 years old and above, to explore the demographic (gender and ethnics), lifestyle factors (physical activity, carbohydrate intake and smoking status) and measurement of body weight, height and waist circumference. A total of 629 subjects with normal BMI were studied. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 36.1% based on WC (40.0% males and 70.0% females). The predictor model revealed that being non-Malay (aOR = 2.1; 95% CI: 1.35-3.20) and being female (aOR = 3.6; 95% CI: 2.51-5.06) were the associated factors of having abdominal obesity in normal BMI population. In conclusion, females and non-Malay were factors that were found to be associated with abdominal obesity in normal BMI population. This is important in targeting this vulnerable population with risk factors that can develop non communicable diseases for early interventions.
We investigated the association between housing conditions with a primary focus on basic housing infrastructure and WHOQOL BREF score among the Orang Asli and non-Orang Asli populations. A cross–sectional study was conducted between August 2014 and May 2015 among the Orang Asli and non-Orang Asli populations in Kuala Langat, Selangor. Sampling of the population was done through multistage sampling while eligible respondents participated conveniently. The socio-demographic information collected consisted of age, ethnicity, marital status, educational level, and employment status. Basic housing infrastructure variables including the types of housing unit, wall construction material, availability and types of toilet, availability of electricity, source of water supply, and availability of garbage collection facilities were obtained. Among the Orang Asli respondents, having the pour type of toilet in the house was significantly (p=0.003) associated with a reduction in the physical health domain score by 0.36 (95% CI: -0.61,-0.12). Conversely, having no toilet in the house and living in a semi-detached house had significantly (p=0.023 and p=0.026 respectively) increased the social relationships domain score by 0.81 (CI: 0.11, 1.51) and 3.90 (CI: 0.47, 7.34) respectively. Unavailability of garbage disposal facilities was found to be significantly (p
Kebelakangan ini, tanda-tanda kemurungan dalam kalangan remaja semakin meningkat. Kajian ini dijalankan untuk menentukan prevalens kemurungan dan faktor-faktor ramalan. Satu kajian keratan rentas telah dijalankan 191 remaja yang terpilih secara rawak dan terdiri daripada pelajar tingkatan empat dari lima buah sekolah menengah di negeri Selangor, Malaysia. Satu soal selidik yang terdiri daripada enam bahagian (A) demografi, (B) tahap kemurungan, (C) hubungan keluarga, (D) tahap sokongan rakan sebaya, (E) harga diri, dan (F) pencapaian akademik telah diedarkan. Prevalen kemurungan adalah 50.3%. Analisis regresi logistik mendapati, remaja yang mempunyai masalah dengan rakan-rakan adalah lebih cenderung untuk mengalami kemurungan berbanding dengan mereka yang tidak mempunyai masalah dengan rakan-rakan mereka (aOR 2.84, 95% CI 1.50, 5.36). Kajian selanjutnya perlu meneliti faktor-faktor lain seperti tekanan daripada guru-guru untuk mengukuhkan pemahaman kita mengenai kemurungan di kalangan remaja. Diharapkan hasil kajian ini berguna kepada pelbagai pihak yang mengambil berat tentang masalah ini.
Satu kajian keratan rentas telah dijalankan ke atas 285 orang penduduk yang berumur 18 tahun dan ke atas di Kg. Bangi Daerah Hulu langat, Selangor D.E. dari 6-12 Mac 2006. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk melihat prevalens senaman dan faktor yang mempunyai hubungan dengannya. Kaedah persampelan universal telah digunakan dan pengumpulan data melalui borang soalselidik berpandu. Alatan yang digunakan termasuk penimbang berat Seca dan sfigmomanometer yang telah di kalibrasi, stateskop dan pita pengukur ketinggian. Hasil kajian menunjukkan hanya 13.7% daripada responden yang di kaji di dalam kategori cukup bersenam mengikut definisi kajian. Antara faktor-faktor yang mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan prevalens cukup bersenam adalah jantina (p=0.004), tahap pendidikan (p=0.02) dan status perkahwinan (p
Pregnant women are at higher risk of transmitting the infections to their foetus. This prompted the “Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Program” in Malaysia since 1998. The objective of this cross sectional study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of pregnant mothers in the west of Sabah towards HIV/AIDS and its influencing factors. Data were obtained through self administered questionnaires. Results showed that only 32.2% of the
respondents have good knowledge compared to 67.8% who had poor knowledge (p
Stage of cervical cancer may adversely affect the quality of life (QOL) among patients. The objective of this study was to predict the QOL among cervical cancer patients by the stage of their cancer. A cross-sectional study from September 2012 until January 2013 was conducted among cervical cancer patients who completed treatment. All patients completed a interviewer-guided questionnaire comprising four sections: (A) socio- demographic data, (B) medical history, (C) QOL measured by general health status questionnaire (QLQ-30) and (D) cervical cancer specific module CX-24 (EORTC) was used to measured patient's functional, symptom scale and their global health status. Results showed that global health status, emotional functioning and pain score were higher in stage III cervical cancer patients while role functioning was higher in stage I cervical cancer patients. Patients with stage IV cancer have a lower mean score in global health status (adjusted b-22.0, 95 CI% -35.6, -8.49) and emotional functioning (adjusted b -22.5, 95 CI% -38.1, -6.69) while stage III had lower mean score in role functioning (adjusted b -14.3, 95 CI% -25.4, -3.21) but higher mean score in pain (adjusted b 22.1, 95 CI% 8.56, 35.7). In conclusion, stage III and IV cervical cancers mainly affect the QOL of cervical cancer patients. Focus should be given to these subgroups to help in improving the QOL.
Hypertension is one of the chronic diseases with a rising trend globally, including Malaysia. Patients' own perception of their illness is a strong factor that determines their health-seeking behaviour. The objective of this study was to evaluate the illness perception of hypertensive patients and the associated factors.