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.
METHODS: An operational utility test to elucidate the efficiency and effectiveness of the dengue RT-RPA assay was conducted among a group of researchers new to the assay. Nineteen volunteer researchers with different research experience were recruited. The participants performed the RT-RPA assay and interpreted the test results according to the protocol provided. Deviation from the protocol was identified and tabulated by trained facilitators. Post-test questionnaires were conducted to determine the user satisfaction and acceptability of the dengue RT-RPA assay.
RESULTS: All the participants completed the test and successfully interpreted the results according to the provided instructions, regardless of their research experience. Of the 19 participants, three (15.8%) performed the assay with no deviations and 16 (84.2%) performed the assay with only 1 to 5 deviations. The number of deviations from protocol, however, was not correlated with the user laboratory experience. The accuracy of the results was also not affected by user laboratory experience. The concordance of the assay results against that of the expected was at 89.3%. The user satisfaction towards the RT-RPA protocol and interpretation of results was 90% and 100%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: The dengue RT-RPA assay can be successfully performed by simply following the provided written instructions. Deviations from the written protocols did not adversely affect the outcome of the assay. These suggest that the RT-RPA assay is indeed a simple, robust and efficient laboratory method for detection of dengue virus. Furthermore, high new user acceptance of the RT-RPA assay suggests that this assay could be successfully deployed into new laboratories where RT-RPA was not previously performed.
METHODS: The SAQ was translated from English to Turkish using the back-translation method. It contains 19 questions scored from 1 to either 5 or 6 in 5 domains (physical limitation, angina stability, angina frequency, disease perception, and treatment satisfaction). Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to evaluate internal consistency. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the construct validity. Convergent validity was examined using correlations between the SAQ and the MacNew Heart Disease Health-related Quality of Life Questionnaire (MacNew) and the Nottingham Health Profile. Divergent validity was evaluated using correlations between the SAQ and age, body mass index (BMI), gender, and the marital status of patients. A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS: Sixty-seven patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the study patients was 58.7 years (SD: 10.2). Cronbach's alpha scores of the SAQ, ranging in value from 0.715 to 0.910, demonstrated that this scale is reliable. All of the SAQ scales had a significant correlation with all of the MacNew scales, which indicated that the scale has convergent validity. Insignificant correlations with age, BMI, gender, and marital status illustrated the good divergent validity of the scale.
CONCLUSION: The Turkish version of the SAQ is a valid and reliable instrument. It is a useful and practical tool to evaluate patients with angina and CHD.