Methods: Back-to-back translation was used to produce a bilingual version of the questionnaire. Hand drawings were used to replace photographs from the original questionnaire. Face validity and content validity were assessed, and construct validity was determined by comparing responses from informal caregivers, medical students, and primary care doctors. Finally, the internal consistencies of the subscales were determined.
Results: Pretesting showed that the translated version was sufficiently easy to understand. Internal consistency for the positioning subscale (28 items, Cronbach's α = 0.70) and feeding subscale (15 items, Cronbach's α = 0.70) was good. Mean scores for the positioning subscale for caregivers (mean: 17.1 ± 3.9), medical students (mean: 18.9 ± 3.1), and doctors (mean 21.5 ± 2.2) were significantly different (F = 5.28, P ' = 0.011). Mean scores for the feeding subscale for caregivers (mean 13.1 ± 2.5), medical students (mean 16.1 ± 1.9), and doctors (mean 16.1 ± 2.4) also differed significantly (F = 6.217, P = 0.006).
Conclusions: CKQ-My has good internal consistency and construct validity for the subscales measuring stroke caregivers' knowledge about positioning and feeding of stroke patients. It has potential as an assessment of effectiveness of caregiver training and for future studies on long-term stroke outcomes in Malaysia.
METHODS: This cross-sectional questionnaire study involved 329 patients with T2DM who received their follow up at a public primary care clinic. Patients were selected via systematic random sampling. Patients self-completed locally adapted versions of the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Social Support Survey and Diabetic Management Self Efficacy Scale (DMSES). The scores of both tools were analysed to determine the association and correlation between social support and self-efficacy.
RESULTS: The mean score for overall social support was 72.7±21.40 score range (0-100). "Affectionate support" was rated the highest averaged mean score at 78.31±23.71 (score range: 0-100). The mean DMSES score was 147.6±35.5 (score range :0-200), of which "medications" subscale was rated the highest with averaged mean scores 9.07±1.67 (score range: 0-10). Overall social support and self-efficacy were found to be weakly correlated (r=0.197, p<0.001). However, all subscales of social support were moderately correlated with "medications" subscale of self-efficacy.
CONCLUSION: Social support is significantly associated with patients' self-efficacy in handling their own medications.
AIM: To assess the level of knowledge and concerns regarding childhood fever among parents with young children in a public health clinic in Kuching, East Malaysia.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among parents recruited from a maternal and child health clinic, with children aged 6 months to 6 years. The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding their knowledge and concerns about childhood fever. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed, and associations between dependent and independent variables were determined.
RESULTS: Only 26.1% of participants were found to have good knowledge. Knowledge regarding childhood fever was significantly associated with parent's ethnicity, education level, and household income. About 72% of parents were always worried about their child's illness. Three major reasons for their concerns were persistently rising temperature; discomfort caused by the fever, and feared complications of fever.
CONCLUSION: Excessive parental anxiety due to poor knowledge and misconceptions about fever may lead to poor quality of life and inappropriate management of fever. Healthcare providers may help by educating parents about fever and serious signs that indicate the need to seek healthcare advice.
METHODS: This study included 1740 males (1146 Chinese, 327 Malays and 267 Asian Indians) and 1950 females (1329 Chinese, 360 Malays and 261 Asian Indians) with complete data on anthropometric indices, fasting lipids, smoking status, alcohol consumption, exercise frequency and genotype at the APOE locus.
RESULTS: Malays and Asian Indians were more obese compared with the Chinese. Smoking was uncommon in all females but Malay males had significantly higher prevalence of smokers. Malays had the highest LDL-C whilst Indians had the lowest HDL-C, The epsilon 3 allele was the most frequent allele in all three ethnic groups. Malays had the highest frequency of epsilon 4 (0.180 and 0.152) compared with Chinese (0.085 and 0.087) and Indians (0.108 and 0.075) in males and females, respectively. The epsilon 2 allele was the least common in Asian Indians. Total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-C was highest in epsilon 4 carriers and lowest in epsilon 2 carriers. The reverse was seen in HDL-C with the highest levels seen in epsilon 2 subjects. The association between ethnic group and HDL-C differed according to APOE genotype and gender. Asian Indians had the lowest HDL-C for each APOE genotype except in Asian Indian males with epsilon 2, where HDL-C concentrations were intermediate between Chinese and Malays.
CONCLUSION: Ethnic differences in lipid profile could be explained in part by the higher prevalence of epsilon 4 in the Malays. Ethnicity may influence the association between APOE genotypes and HDL-C. APOE genotype showed no correlation with HDL-C in Malay males whereas the association in Asian Indians was particularly marked. Further studies of interactions between genes and environmental factors will contribute to the understanding of differences of coronary risk amongst ethnic groups.
METHODS: This three-phase study was conducted among Malaysian population. Phase 1 involved forward and backward translations of the Scale to Malay language by four professional bilingual translators. In Phase 2, the new M-COVID-19-BS instrument was piloted on 30 participants who suggested minor lexical modifications. Phase 3 consisted of online recruiting of Malaysian citizens to answer a composite questionnaire comprising the M-COVID-19-BS, Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-BREF), and Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S). Data were statistically analyzed.
RESULTS: The composite four-part questionnaire in Malay was answered by N = 225 Malaysian citizens. The M-COVID-19-BS instrument demonstrated a good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.926) and had a unidimensional factor structure. M-COVID-19-BS scores positively correlated with the three CBI subscales, showing evidence of convergent validity. Negative correlation was reported between M-COVID-19-BS and WHOQOL-BREF, achieving discriminant validity. M-COVID-19-BS also exhibited moderate positive correlations with the FCV-19S, thus supporting its concurrent validity.
CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate that M-COVID-19-BS is a valid and reliable instrument to assess burnout symptoms related to COVID-19 among Malay-speaking populations either collectively or as a self-care tool to detect burnout symptoms without needing to further burden the already overwhelmed Malaysian healthcare system.
OBJECTIVES: This article aims to explain paediatric cancer parents' information behaviour related to the care of their child.
METHODS: Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with fourteen Malaysian paediatric cancer parents and eight healthcare professionals who worked with paediatric cancer patients. Reflexivity and inductive approaches were used to interpret the data to identify meaningful themes and subthemes.
RESULTS: Three themes about how paediatric cancer parents interact with information emerged: Acquiring information, internalising information, and using information. Information may be actively sought or passively acquired. Cognitive and affective aspects influence how information is internalised into meaningful knowledge. Knowledge then leads to further action including further information gathering.
CONCLUSION: Paediatric cancer parents need health literacy support to meet their information needs. They require guidance in identifying and appraising suitable information resources. Development of suitable supporting materials is needed to facilitate parents' ability to comprehend information related to their child's cancer. Understanding parents' information behaviour could assist healthcare professionals in providing information support in the context of paediatric cancer.