An alarm about suspected toxic gas leakage was raised in a primary school. All the students were evacuated by the staff and the community to a district hospital in Teluk Intan, Perak, about 8 km from the school. Sixty-four primary students from the school, four secondary school students and a student’s mother, who was near the school were all examined by a team of medical officers: Perceptions and records of the incidence from the students, staff and medical officers were recorded and examined by the author who visited the school and the hospital after the incidence. Psychosomatic symptoms related to anxiety attack were predominant There was no evidence of any gas leak. Symptomatic management was given by the medical officers. The psychogenic aetiology of the subsequent physical symptoms and behaviour, and the difference from epidemic hysteria are discussed.
The severity of anxiety and depression in 72 patients presenting with somatic complaints to the psychiatric clinic were assessed after excluding organic illnesses. Majority of the patients were females, between 15 to 34 years of age and came from lower socio-economic background. A high percentage of patients were brought up by dominant mothers and the married patients had passive husbands or active wives controlling the family. Generally the severity of depression was correlated with the severity of anxiety (C.C = 0.704, P less than 0.01). Majority of the patients were found to have both mixed anxiety depressive symptoms and the anxiety symptoms masking the underlying depressive symptomatology.
Study site: Psychiatric Clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
AIM: To document the perception of terminally ill patients and their family members on the care provided to them, and to look at the components of holistic care that are viewed as inadequate.
METHODS: Thirty cancer patients from a 10-bed palliative ward and their family members who were the chief carers were interviewed. They were asked to give their perceptions on four major areas of care: physical, social, psychological and spiritual. The participants were asked to report which area(s) of the service were inadequate.
RESULTS: Most patients and family members perceived that they received adequate physical care. However, the psychosocial and spiritual aspect of care were perceived as inadequate by the majority of patients and their families. None of the patients interviewed had ever been asked about spiritual distress.
CONCLUSION: The holistic model of care in caring for terminally ill patients is not practised fully. Further development in the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of care is necessary. There is a need to conduct further research to address these domains.
Attitudes toward cervical cancer and participation in early detection and screening services are well known to be profoundly affected by cultural beliefs and norms.
The fatigue that is observed in patients who are undergoing dialysis is usually associated with an impaired quality of life. The present cross-sectional study was conducted from January to April 2009 in three hemodialysis units in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In this study, the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory and Depression Anxiety and Stress Score 21 were used to determine the level of fatigue, depression, anxiety, and stress of patients who were undergoing dialysis. The data were obtained from a calculated sample of 116 and a total of 103 respondents participated in the study. A total of 56 (54.4%) and 47 (45.6%) respondents experienced a high level and a low level of fatigue, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the duration of treatment and the level of fatigue. The respondents who had been receiving treatment for > 2 years experienced more fatigue, compared to the respondents who had been undergoing hemodialysis for > 2 years. There was a significant difference in relation to the age of the participants regarding the level of fatigue. No significant relationship between the sex of the participants, anemia, depression, anxiety, stress, and the level of fatigue was observed. Special attention needs to be paid to both the younger and older adults who are receiving treatment. In addition, proper planning is needed for the patients regarding their daily activities in order to reduce fatigue. Nurses who work in hemodialysis units are recommended to provide exercise classes or group therapy in order to boost the energy levels among patients who are undergoing dialysis. Health professionals should provide appropriate treatment for patients who are experiencing fatigue in order to prevent any other complications that could arise.
The main objective of this paper is to examine the psychometric properties of the Malay Version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), tested on 67 husbands of the women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. The eligible husbands were retrieved from the Clinical Oncology Clinic at three hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Data was collected at three weeks and ten weeks following surgery for breast cancer of their wives. The psychometric properties of the HADS were reported based on Cronbach' alpha, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC), Effect Size Index (ESI), sensitivity and discriminity of the scale. Internal consistency of the scale is excellent, with Cronbach's alpha of 0.88 for Anxiety subscale and 0.79 for Depression subscale. Test-retest Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) is 0.35 and 0.42 for Anxiety and Depression Subscale, respectively. Small mean differences were observed at test-retest measurement with ESI of 0.21 for Anxiety and 0.19 for Depression. Non-significant result was revealed for the discriminant validity (mastectomy vs lumpectomy). The Malay Version of the HADS is appropriate to measure the anxiety and depression among the husbands of the women with breast cancer in Malaysia.
Study site: Oncology clinic, University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
AIMS: We examined the relationship of hypoglycemic symptoms with health-related quality of life and worry about hypoglycemia among type 2 diabetic patients using oral antihyperglycemic agents (AHA) in the Asia-Pacific region.
METHODS: A total of 2257 type 2 diabetic patients with at least 6 months of oral AHA were enrolled in China, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan. Quality of life was measured with the EuroQol Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) and EuroQol-5 Dimensions questionnaire (EQ-5D), and worry about hypoglycemia with the worry subscale of the Hypoglycemic Fear Survey-II (HFS).
RESULTS: The mean (SD) age was 58.7 (10.2) years and HbA(1c) was 7.5% (1.5). The proportion of patients with an HbA(1c) <6.5% and <7% was 24.9% and 41.8%, respectively. Hypoglycemic symptoms in the prior 6 months were reported by 35.8% of patients. Mean scores on the EQ-VAS and the EQ-5D were significantly lower for patients who had hypoglycemic symptoms compared to those who did not (73.6 vs. 76.9, p<0.001; 0.88 vs. 0.90, p<0.0001, respectively), whereas mean score on the HFS was significantly higher (12.5 vs. 6.3, p<0.001). In multivariate models, hypoglycemic symptoms were independently associated with scores on the EQ-5D, EQ-VAS, and HFS (all p ≤ 0.01-0.001). Symptom severity was positively associated with fear of hypoglycemia (all p ≤ 0.001).
CONCLUSION: Hypoglycemic symptoms were associated with reduced quality of life and increased patient worry in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with AHA.
The current study was undertaken to examine the associations between self-determination, exercise habit, anxiety, depression, stress, and academic achievement among adolescents aged 13 and 14 years in eastern Malaysia.
Epidemiological studies have shown significant ethnic differences in coronary heart disease death rates with South Asians showing significantly greater coronary heart disease mortality than other groups.
This study aims to investigate the evidence of the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in improving stress, depression and anxiety in breast cancer patients.
Ever since the 9/11 terrorist attack, many countries are considering the use of smart national identity card (SNIC) which has the ability to identify terrorists due to its biometric verification function. However, there are many ergonomics issues in the use of SNIC, e.g. card credibility. This research presents a case study survey of Malaysian users. Although most citizens (>96%) own MyKad (Malaysia SNIC), many do not carry it around and use its applications. This defeats one of its main purposes, i.e. combating terrorism. Thus, the research investigates ergonomics issues affecting the citizens' Intention to Use (ITU) MyKad for homeland security by using an extended technology acceptance model. Five hundred questionnaires were collected and analysed using structural equation modelling. Results show that perceived credibility and performance expectancy are the key issues. The findings provide many countries with insights into methods of addressing ergonomics issues and increasing adoption of SNIC for homeland security.
Epilepsy, a chronic disorder of brain characterised by a predisposition to generate epileptic seizures, has an effect on the psychosocial well-being of sufferers. Measuring the quality of life (QOL) of people with epilepsy (PWE) is increasingly recognized as an important component of clinical management. QOL measures differ between countries and there is limited information regarding PWE in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to determine the health related QOL and its relationship with the presence of seizures in PWE at a Malaysian tertiary referral center.
BACKGROUND: Body image dissatisfaction among breast cancer survivors has been associated with psychological stress resultant from breast cancer and resultant surgery. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Malay Version of the Breast-Impact of Treatment Scale (MVBITS) and to investigate the associations of retained factors with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The MVBITS was 'forward-backward' translated from English to Malay and then administered to 70 female breast cancer patients who came to the Oncology Clinic of University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to undergo chemotherapy. Principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was performed to explore the factor structure of the MVBITS. Associations of retained factors were estimated with reference to Spearman correlation coefficients.
RESULTS: The internal consistency reliability of MVBITS was good (Cronbach's alpha 0.945) and showed temporal stability over a 3-week period. Principal component analysis suggested two factors termed as 'Intrusion' and 'Avoidance' domains. These factors explained 70.3% of the variance. Factor 1 comprised the effects of breast cancer treatment on the emotion and thought, while Factor 2 informed attempts to limit exposure of the body to self or others. The Factor 1 of MVBITS was positively correlated with total, depression and anxiety sub-scores of HADS. Factor 2 was positively correlated with total and anxiety sub-scores of HADS. MVBITS was also positively correlated with the RSES scores.
CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that the Malay Version of Breast-Impact of Treatment Scale possesses satisfactory psychometric properties suggesting that this instrument is appropriate for assessment of body change stress among female breast cancer patients in Malaysia.
Studies from Western countries have observed that couples undergoing infertility treatment suffer various physical and psychological difficulties at a higher frequency than the comparable general population. These relate to treatment challenges and other psychosocial stressors, often influenced by coping style, personality factors and available support systems. There is paucity of studies in non-Western populations.
The effects of mitragynine on anxiety-related behaviours in the open-field and elevated plus-maze tests were evaluated. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were orally treated with mitragynine (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) or diazepam (10 mg/kg) 60 min before behavioural testing. Mitragynine doses used in this study were selected on the basis of approximately human equivalent doses with reference to our previous literature reports. Acute administration of mitragynine (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) or diazepam (10 mg/kg) increased central zone and open arms exploration in the open-field and elevated plus-maze tests respectively. These anxiolytic-like effects of mitragynine were effectively antagonized by intraperitoneal administration of naloxone (2 mg/kg), flumazenil (10 mg/kg), sulpiride (0.5 mg/kg) or SCH 23390 (0.02 mg/kg) 15 min before mitragynine treatments. These findings reveal that the acute administration of mitragynine produces anxiolytic-like effects and this could be possibly attributed to the interactions among opioidergic, GABAergic and dopaminergic systems in brain regions involved in anxiety.
To investigate the impact of chronic suppurative lung disease (CSLD) on growth and lung function in the child as well as quality of life of the child and parent.
To analyze the effect of psychological intervention on reducing performance anxiety and the consequences of the intervention on first-year pharmacy students.