METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the district of Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Of the 1,200 women approached from membership of community associations, 1,002 (84%) completed the questionnaires. Severe life events Recent Life Events Questionnaire (Brugha and Cragg in Acta Psychiatr Scand 82:77-81, 1990) and psychosocial vulnerability (VDQ) (Moran et al. in Br J Clin Psychol 40:411-427, 2001) were used to measure vulnerability factors. Depression was measured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) (Havenaar et al. in Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 43:209-215, 2008).
RESULTS: Single mothers had significantly higher rates of depression than those married (60.5 vs. 39.5%), as well as higher rates of severe life events and Negative Elements in Close Relationships (lack of support and conflict with children). However, married mothers had greater Negative Evaluation of Self. The two vulnerability factors were correlated to each other and to severe life events and social adversity. Logistic regression showed an interaction between severe life events in the material and relationship domains and joint vulnerability for depression outcome. The results are discussed in relation to the low recognition of psychosocial risks for depression in single mothers in Malaysia, as well as lack of appropriate services.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This qualitative descriptive study was conducted amongst married older adults aged 60 years and above. All interview responses were transcribed verbatim and examined using thematic approach and interpretative description method.
RESULTS: A total of 11 married couples were interviewed. Three major themes emerged: [1] Our roles in driving; [2] Challenges to continue driving; and, [3] Our driving strategies to ensure continued driving. Older couples adopted driving strategies and regulated their driving patterns to ensure they continued to drive safely. Male partners often took the active driving role as the principal drivers, while the females adopted a more passive role, including being the passenger to accompany the principal drivers or becoming the co-driver to help in navigation. Other coping strategies include sharing the driving duties as well as using public transportation or mixed mode transportation.
DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest spouse play a significant role in their partners' decision to self-regulate driving. This underscores a need to recognise the importance of interdependency amongst couples and its impact on their driving decisions and outcomes.
METHODS: A qualitative method was employed. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with married men, community health officers, community health volunteers and community leaders. The participants were selected using purposive, quota and snowball sampling techniques. The study used thematic analysis for analysing the data.
RESULTS: The study shows varying involvement of men, some were directly involved in feminine gender roles; others used their female relatives and co-wives to perform the women's roles that did not have space for them. They were not necessarily indifferent towards maternal healthcare, rather, they were involved in the spaces provided by the traditional gender division of labour. Amongst other things, the perpetuation and reinforcement of traditional gender norms around pregnancy and childbirth influenced the nature and level of male involvement.
CONCLUSIONS: Sustenance of male involvement especially, husbands and CHVs is required at the household and community levels for positive maternal outcomes. Ghana Health Service, health professionals and policy makers should take traditional gender role expectations into consideration in the planning and implementation of maternal health promotion programmes.
METHOD: The study followed a single-blind parallel group in a randomized controlled trial using an experimental longitudinal design, comprising 72 heterosexual couples living in Shiraz, Iran, with a 1-7-year marital age and no severe marital problems. The experimental group received eight consecutive O-GPIs via the Zoom platform, while the control group received information related to parenting skills via email. The outcome measures were the three patterns of communication: (i) constructive communication; (ii) demand-withdraw communication; and (iii) mutual avoidance communication-the screening measure was the dyadic adjustment scale.
RESULTS: The findings indicated that O-GPI could improve couples' constructive communication significantly (45% for husbands and 40% wives) and decrease their total demand-withdrawal (51% for husbands and 65% wives) and mutual avoidance communication (60% for husbands and 62% wives).
LIMITATIONS: Due to the homogenous nature of the sample, generalizations should be made with caution.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the online Gottman's psychoeducational intervention to improve couples' communication patterns.
METHODOLOGY: This research was conducted on 1210 noninstitutionalized elderly Malaysian individuals with dementia. The effects of age, ethnicity, educational level, marital status, sex differences, social support, and having a partner on sleep quality were evaluated in the respondents. The multiple logistic regression analysis was used to predict the risk of sleep disturbances among the participants.
RESULTS: Approximately, 41% of the participants experienced sleep disruption. Further findings showed that ethnicity (odds ratio [OR] = 0.62), social support (OR = 1.35), marital status (OR = 2.21), educational level (OR = 0.65), and having a partner (OR = 0.45) significantly affected sleep quality (P < .05). Sex differences and age were unrelated predictors of sleep disturbances (P > .05).
CONCLUSION: It was concluded that social isolation and being single increased sleep disruption among respondents, but having a partner and ethnic non-Malay decreased the rate of sleep problems.
METHODOLOGY: Total of 13 menopausal women recruited using a combination of purposive and snowball techniques from two sources, tertiary hospital and local communities in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. The in-depth semi-structured interview guided was used to explore how they perceived supports provided by their husbands. The data were then analysed using a thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Five (5) themes have emerged which comprises of emotional, instrumental, appraisal, guidance, and sexual supports. One of which was a new theme (sexual intimacy support) that had not been existed previously in other literature reviews.
CONCLUSION: Majority of menopausal women perceived the supports provided by their husband were negative, rather than positive supports that they had hoped. These findings suggest that an education program tool for husbands as a support person is much needed to ensure women walk through the menopause phase in a more meaningful life.
Aims: To explore how impairments could affect the self-esteem of physically disabled people and how healthcare professionals and social support boost their self-esteem.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted qualitatively whereby face-to-face interviews were conducted among 10 participants with physical disabilities. Participants were recruited from two rehabilitation centres in Kuantan, namely Community-based rehabilitation and rehabilitation, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy of public hospital in Kuantan. Interviews were conducted using the developed interview guide that explored on the disabled peoples' self-esteem and motivation, feelings toward attitude of the healthcare professionals, and satisfaction toward the physical, services, and social support from the healthcare professionals. Thematic analysis was done to identify the themes emerged from the interview transcripts.
Results: Five males and five females with age ranging from 31 to 58 years were interviewed. Five are still working or studying post impairments. Participants claimed being low self-esteem resulted from negative perception from the society, issue of rejection, being discriminated, and difficulty in getting support from the society. Most of the participants asserted that they gained their motivation and self-esteem due to the continuous support from various groups, such as their spouses, family members, colleagues, employers, and healthcare professionals.
Conclusions: Despite heavy workload and stressful working environment, positive attitude showed by the healthcare professionals is highly praised. Hence, this will indirectly improve the self-esteem, motivation, and rehabilitation progress of physically disabled people.