METHOD: A cross-sectional study was carried out among public secondary school teachers, aged 18 - 60 years, in Enugu East Senatorial District, using probability proportional to size sampling and systematic random sampling to select 1000 participants. Binary and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine association. An odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was computed to determine the level of significance.
RESULTS: The current practice level of family planning is 26.5%. Respondents with bachelor in education were 2 times more likely to be a current user of family planning (AOR=2.39; 95% CI: 1.25-4.55). However, respondents in age group 38 years and above were less likely to be a current user of family planning (AOR=0.64; 95% CI: 0.43-0.95), likewise female respondents (AOR=0.66; 95% CI: 0.44-0.98). Additionally, respondents who mentioned radio (AOR=0.64; 95%CI: 0.44-0.93), social media (AOR=0.73; 95% CI: 0.53-0.99) and healthcare (AOR=0.61; 95%CI: 0.43-0.88) as source of information were less likely to be current user of family planning. Whereas, partner who encouraged the use of family planning (AOR=2.54; 95% CI: 1.71-3.78) span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'; font-weight:bold">, partner who allow each other to decide on family planning methods (AOR=4.47; 95% CI: 2.67-7.48) and those who had good knowledge of family planning (AOR=1.96; 95% CI: 1.40-2.67) were more likely to be current user of family planning.
CONCLUSION: The level of current practice of family planning is low and a significant number of factors predict the current practice of family planning. A family planning educational workshop among teachers is needed to improve teacher's knowledge on family planning to address the issue of adolescent sexual reproduction as teachers are vessels of knowledge impartation to students.
METHOD: Through an online survey, we used Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) to measure the level of anxiety associated with the COVID-19 crisis and Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) to assess the coping responses adopted to handle stressful life events. Coping strategies were classified as adaptive and maladaptive, for which the aggregate sores were calculated. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the predictors of anxiety adjusted for potentially confounding variables. Results from 434 participants were available for analysis.
RESULTS: The mean score (SD) of the CAS was 1.1 (1.8). The mean scores of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies were 35.69 and 19.28, respectively. Multiple linear regression revealed that maladaptive coping [Adjusted B coefficient = 4.106, p-value < 0.001] and presence of comorbidities [Adjusted B coefficient = 1.376, p-value = 0.025] significantly predicted anxiety.
CONCLUSION: Maladaptive coping and presence of comorbidities were the predictors of coronavirus anxiety. The apparent lack of anxiety in relation to COVID-19 and movement restriction is reflective of the reported high level of satisfaction with the support and services provided during the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia. Adaptive coping strategies were adopted more frequently than maladaptive. Nevertheless, public education on positive coping strategies and anxiety management may be still be relevant to provide mental health support to address the needs of the general population.
METHODS: Permission to use and translate the original RAC-Q into the Malay language was obtained. The RAC-Q was then translated into the Malay language following the 10 steps proposed for the translation of a patient-reported outcome questionnaire. A pretest was conducted based on 30 inpatients to assess the appropriateness and clarity of the finalized translated questionnaire. A cross-sectional study was performed based on 138 inpatients from six adult wards of a teaching hospital so as to validate the translated questionnaire. The data were analyzed using R software version 4.1.3 (R Core Team, Vienna, Austria, 2020). The results were presented descriptively as numbers and percentages or means and standard deviations. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed using robust estimators.
RESULTS: The analysis showed that the measurement model of the RAC-Q Malay version (RAC-QM) fits well based on several fit indices: a standardized factor loading range from 0.40 to 0.73, comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.917, Tucker-Lewis fit index (TLI) of 0.904, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.06, and a standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) of 0.073. It has good reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.857 and a composite ratio of 0.857.
CONCLUSION: The RAC-QM demonstrated good psychometric properties and is valid and reliable based on the confirmatory analysis, and it can thus be used as a tool for evaluating the level of compassionate care in Malaysia.
METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional two-phase study was carried out to develop the scale. In phase 1, a preliminary parent-report measure questionnaire was developed in Bahasa Malaysia. Later, it was sent to four experts for content validity followed by face validity. In Phase 2, a total of 386 parents of pre-school children aged 4 to 6 years old, split into two samples, were involved in the field study for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
RESULT: Sample 1 was used to perform EFA to determine the factorial structure of the SDS. All items with a factor loading of >0.4 were included. Sample 2 was used to perform the CFA. RMSEA and CFI analysis showed that the SDS has a good fit and confirms the dimensional structure found via EFA. The final questionnaire consists of 15 items with a 4 factors' structure and has excellent internal consistency reliability.
CONCLUSIONS: The Screen Dependency Scale (SDS) is a reliable and valid questionnaire to detect screen dependency among pre-school children aged 4 to 6 years old in Malaysia.
OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the level of the involvement of men in PNC and analyzed the factors that determined this involvement.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted through a survey of 381 males who were selected by multistage random sampling in Muaro Jambi, Indonesia, from April to August 2020. The dependent variable was the involvement of men in PNC, which was constructed from four dichotomous indicators. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed using SPSS 24.0 at a significance level of 0.05.
RESULTS: Over 50% of respondents were highly involved in PNC, with the predicting factors being the number of children (OR = 2.195, 95% CI = 1.096-4.397), the quality of health service (OR = 6.072, 95% CI = 3.324-11.09), communication (OR = 6.908, 95% CI = 3.255-14.66), and culture (OR = 4.031, 95% CI = 2.196-7.399). The communication factor was the main predictor of male involvement in PNC in Muaro Jambi Regency.
CONCLUSION: The involvement of men in PNC in Muaro Jambi Regency was related to the number of children, quality of health service, communication, and culture. Counseling "as a couple" is needed to improve the communication between husband and wife so that they can understand each other's needs in PNC.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done among 300, 3-6 year old school children of Udupi district. A total of 40 children who were caries free, with no past systemic illness or craniofacial anomalies and 40 children with dental caries with no history of dental treatment for caries, with no past systemic illness or craniofacial anomalies were included in control and test groups respectively. Salivary CD14 was evaluated using ELISA test.
RESULTS: The mean salivary soluble CD14 concentration was significantly higher in caries free (1.34±0.35 µg/ml) children than caries experienced (0.54±0.36 µg/ml) (p<0.001). There was significant strong negative correlation between number of decayed teeth and soluble salivary CD14 (r = -0.868, P< 0.001) among all the children. Similarly, sub-group analysis of caries experienced children also showed significant strong negative correlation between number of decayed teeth and soluble salivary CD14 (r = -0.774, P<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Results obtained in our study suggested that salivary CD14 can be a indicator of dental caries in young children. Key words:Caries, CD14, Children, Saliva.
METHODS: We modified a validated questionnaire with permission from the original authors at Melaka Manipal Medical College, Melaka, Malaysia. Participants rated 35 characteristics on a 5-point Likert scale. The modified questionnaire was validated in a pilot pool of medical students (n = 69), with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.90, and administered to Year 1-5 medical students (n = 917) at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
RESULTS: Based on the proportion of favourable Likert scoring, four top desirable characteristics were common across Year 1-5 students: good communication skills (84.4%); sound knowledge of subject (82.7%); enthusiasm (78.4%); and providing effective explanations (74.4%). Approachability (p = 0.005), encouraging participation (p < 0.001) and constructive criticism (p < 0.001) were more important to clinical students (Year 3-5) than preclinical students (Year 1-2).
CONCLUSION: The top four characteristics were consistent across all years of medical students in this study. Characteristics emphasised in the clinical years facilitate active learner participation, consistent with constructivist learning theory.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study that included 47 patients with post-traumatic osteomyelitis of the lower limb. Functional outcome was assessed using the Lower Extremity Functional Score (LEFS), and quality of life was assessed using the validated Malay version of Short Form-36 version 2.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up time was 4.6 (range 2.3-9.5) years. Median age was 44 years. Osteomyelitis was located in the tibia for 26 patients and in the femur for 21 patients. Osteomyelitis was consequent to internal infection in 38 patients and due to infected open fractures in nine patients. 42 (89.4%) patients had fracture union and control of infection. Bone defect was found to be a significant contributing factor for treatment failure (p = 0.008). The median LEFS for the success group was 65 when compared to 49 for the failure group. Although the success group showed better scores with regard to quality of life, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION: The success rate for post-traumatic osteomyelitis of the lower limb was high. The presence of a bone defect was associated with treatment failure. Successfully treated patients had significantly better functional outcomes than failed ones.