Methods: Thirteen focus group discussions involving 129 participants from a weight-loss intervention program were conducted within the first 1 month of recruitment. These discussions were moderated by two trained researchers in the Malay language and assisted by an interview guide. They were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis was performed, and codes and themes from each discussion were constructed.
Results: The participants understood dieting with various meanings, including skipping meals and removing rice from daily diets. They applied numerous methods to lose weight and achieved various outcomes. Health and appearance, social support, and compliance with current trends were the factors motivating these participants to lose weight. Their determination to lose weight was limited by lack of self-control and motivation, experiences of unpleasant effects, influence on weight, and environmental and health factors.
Conclusion: Real-life weight loss experiences and perceptions provided relevant insights into current weight loss management strategies. Some of these issues and misunderstandings should be emphasized in weight loss strategies during health promotion.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 297 college students from private nursing colleges in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess sociodemographic characteristics, body weight perception, and weight loss methods. Weight and height were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated based on weight and height measurement. The World Health Organization BMI cutoffs were applied in the study.
RESULTS: More than half (54.2%) of college students perceived their weight correctly as per actual measured BMI. A total of 51.5% of participants had tried various methods to reduce their weight. Body weight perception is associated with weight loss practices (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% confidence interval, 0.19-0.50; P<0.001) adjusted for sex, marital status, and status of having obese family members. Those who had correct body weight perception were less likely to engage in weight loss practice. Food intake restriction (42.4%) is the most popular weight reduction method among students in nursing colleges. Over a quarter of the participants chose physical exercise (25.3%) to reduce their weight, and a small number engaged in unhealthy weight loss practices.
CONCLUSION: Body weight perception is an important factor that influences the practice to reduce weight especially among young adult group and college students.
METHODS: An interventional study was conducted in 121 antenatal women selected through systematic random sampling between June and December 2010. Baseline knowledge of, attitude towards, and practice of pelvic floor muscle exercise were assessed using self-administered validated questionnaires at first visit and at 2 months postpartum. All participants attended two exercise education classes on their next two visits before delivery. A paired ttest and multivariate analysis were used for data evaluation.
RESULTS: The mean pre-intervention scores for knowledge, attitudes, and practice were 24.98, 24.25, and 3.51, respectively, with statistically significant mean score increments after intervention (P<0.001). The mean differences were 4.67 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.86-5.49), 3.77 (95% CI, 3.05-4.50) and 3.45 (95% CI, 2.90-4.00) for knowledge, attitudes, and practice, respectively. Lack of baseline information on pelvic floor muscle exercise was significantly associated with practice change following an educational class.
CONCLUSION: Education is effective in improving knowledge of, attitude towards, and practice of pelvic floor muscle exercise. There is a need for greater effort to increase exercise awareness in our community, especially during antenatal class.
METHODS: A total of 162 students participated in this cross-sectional study that was conducted between May and September of 2015. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the variables of interest.
RESULTS: Most students knew exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first 6 months of life (98.1%). However, some students incorrectly thought formula milk can be given if the infant appears hungry after having been breastfed (61.7%). Additionally, some incorrectly thought expressed breastmilk can be warmed on direct heat (47.5%) and left-over expressed milk can be re-stored (60.5%). Most students agreed that exclusive breastfeeding is easier to practice than formula feeding and that it is the best choice for working mothers. Most students (93.2%) intend to breastfeed their children, and this intention was significantly associated with their experience being breastfed as infants and attitudes toward exclusive breastfeeding.
CONCLUSION: Generally, final year medical and dental students have favorable attitudes and future intentions toward exclusive breastfeeding, although some of them lacked knowledge about certain important aspects of the practice. Past experience of being exclusively breastfed and a more positive attitude toward the practice were associated with their future intentions to practice exclusive breastfeeding.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study conducted in 2016 involving 388 late adolescents from six government colleges in Kelantan, Malaysia, aged 18 to 19 years. They were requested to answer self-directed questionnaires with items on sociodemographic information and types of ATNP used. Other variables obtained include the environmental influence and reasons for using the products. Regression analyses between the dependent and independent variables were conducted using IBM SPSS ver. 20.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).
RESULTS: The prevalence of ATNP use among late adolescents was 14.4%. The male sex, cigarette smoking status, and peer use were significantly associated with ATNP use. Several reasons for use were not significantly associated with ATNP use: perception of ATNP being less harmful and less addictive compared with cigarettes, curiosity, less expensive than cigarettes, to aid smoking cessation, and pleasurable flavors and taste.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ATNP use among late adolescents studying in government colleges in Kelantan is significant. There is higher perception on ATNP being less harmful and addictive than the conventional cigarette among the users compared with non-users. Significant associations are seen for the male sex, peer use, and concurrent cigarette smoking.
METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted from December 2014 to April 2015. The home blood pressure monitoring group used an automatic blood pressure device along with standard hypertension outpatient care. Patients were seen at baseline and after 2 months. Medication adherence was measured using a novel validated Medication Adherence Scale (MAS) questionnaire. Office blood pressure and MAS were recorded at both visits. The primary outcomes included evaluation of mean office blood pressure and MAS within groups and between groups at baseline and after 2 months.
RESULTS: Mean changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and MAS differed significantly within groups. The home blood pressure monitoring group showed greater mean changes (SBP 17.6 mm Hg, DBP 9.5 mm Hg, MAS 1.5 vs. SBP 14.3 mm Hg, DBP 6.4 mm Hg, MAS 1.3), while between group comparisons showed no significant differences across all variables. The adjusted mean difference for mean SBP was 4.74 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.65 to 10.13 mm Hg; P=0.084), mean DBP was 1.41 (95% CI, -2.01 to 4.82 mm Hg; P=0.415), and mean MAS was 0.05 (95% CI, -0.29 to 0.40 mm Hg; P=0.768).
CONCLUSION: Short-term home blood pressure monitoring significantly reduced office blood pressure and improved medication adherence, albeit similarly to standard care.
METHODS: Using a universal sampling technique, 460 male patients aged 60 and above visiting an urban based public primary care clinic were recruited. An interviewer administered the questionnaire which used International Prostate Symptoms Score and International Consultation on Incontinence Modular Questionnaire-Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms-Quality of Life.
RESULTS: The prevalence of any LUTS and clinically significant LUTS were 89.8% and 20.5%, respectively. Among the 385 participants who completed the study, only 41.8% had consulted a doctor for LUTS. Among those with moderate/severe symptoms only 57.6% had sought medical intervention. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of more than two comorbidities (P=0.004; odds ratio [OR], 4.695; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.632-13.508) and quality of life (P=0.002; OR, 1.271; 95% CI, 1.091-1.481) were independent factors significantly associated with seeking help.
CONCLUSION: Prevalence of LUTS among elderly men undergoing primary care is high, but more than half of the patients had not sought medical attention. Increasing comorbidities and impact on quality of life influenced elderly men with LUTS to seek help.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was implemented using data from 86 primary health care clinics in two states in Malaysia from February 2014 to March 2015. A questionnaire that comprised indirect measures were developed on the basis of the Theory of Planned Behavior. The questionnaire assessed several dimensions related to sickness certification provision viz., intention, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control.
RESULTS: The mean scores in this study revealed that physicians acknowledged that patient factors such as clinical symptoms (6.59±0.04), debilitating signs and symptoms of diseases (6.45±0.06), importance of illness recovery (6.07±0.07), and approval of employers (5.35±0.09) played an important role in their decision to provide sick leave.
CONCLUSION: The act of providing sickness certification to patients is a complex decision-making process. The findings of this study can be used to devise a targeted intervention to reduce the conflict that physicians face in issuing sick leaves.