BACKGROUND: Anxious distress in major depressive disorder (MDD) is common and associated with poor outcomes and management difficulties.
AIMS: This post hoc analysis aimed to examine the socio-demographic and clinical correlates of anxiety distress in Asian outpatients with MDD.
METHODS: Instead of two out of five specifiers defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Version-5, anxious distress defined in this study was operationalized as the presence of at least two out of four proxy items drawn from the 90-item Symptom Checklist, Revised (SCL-90-R). Other measures included the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Fatigue Severity Scale, the Sheehan Disability Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.
RESULTS: The data of 496 patients with MDD were included. Anxious distress was found in 371 participants (74.8%). The binary logistic regression analysis found that anxious distress was independently and significantly correlated with working status, higher MADRS scores, severe insomnia and functional impairment.
CONCLUSIONS: Three-fourths of Asian patients with MDD in tertiary care settings may have DSM-5 anxious distress of at least moderate distress. Its prevalence may vary among working groups. The specifier was associated with greater depressive symptom severity, severe insomnia and functional impairment.
Study site: n tertiary care
settings in China, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and
Thailand
The low impact of scientific research on the relations between housing and health during the last 30 years can be attributed to a number of reasons. First, statistical analyses have meant to improve understanding of the relations between what are interpreted and measured as causal factors. However, any single statistical approach fails to account for the dynamic non-linear relations between multiple factors and therefore cannot analyze systemic complexity. Second, there has been too little accumulation and validation of knowledge from scientific research owing to the dominance of cross-sectional studies, and the lack of coordinated research agendas using these approaches in order to confirm empirical findings. Hence, there is little evidence indicating that public policies in both the housing and the public health sectors in specific localities have benefited from the accumulated evidence of empirical research. Third, the findings from empirical studies have been published in academic journals and monographs but rarely disseminated to actors and institutions in the public and private sectors. Hence housing and health research and policy formulation have not been consolidated during the last three decades. The author of this communication argues for a radical shift from conventional disciplinary and multi-disciplinary contributions to transdisciplinary research programmes and projects that formulate and apply innovative approaches founded on conceptual frameworks that apply systems thinking for the integration of knowledge and know-how of researchers, policy makers, and professional practitioners in precise localities.
There were a number of accidents reported throughout the implementation of the National Services Training
Programme (NSTP) since 2004 until 2012. The National Services Training Department (NSTD) is responsible for
the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) aspects in the NSTP camps. The study was conducted with its objective
to compare the levels of OSH audit compliance at NSTP between 2011 and 2012. A cross sectional method was
used, involving a total of 67 randomly selected NSTP camps. The data analysis was conducted on two types of
audit checklists using SPSS version 2.1. The r-value of 0.197 obtained indicates a weak relationship between the
document review and physical training element. The p-value of 0.118, meanwhile, shows that there is no statistically
significant correlation between the results of document review and physical training element. Most of the elements
show an increased percentage of compliance as a result of initiatives taken by the Camp Training Management and
the Camp Operator. Despite an improved compliance level seen from 2011 to 2012, NSTD should look into certain
critical elements considered high risk by the regulatory requirements. NSTD should also continue with its initiatives
to enhance safety and health aspects in NSTP camps not only for the benefit of the trainees but also for themselves.
Background of Study: Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS) is an instrument to assess knowledge about mental health issues commonly used in English-speaking countries.
Objectives: The present study translated the MAKS into Malay language (MAKS-M) and investigate its reliability in the Malaysian context among secondary school teachers.
Methods: A total of 77 secondary school teachers answered the back-translated MAKS-M before and after attending a mental health literacy program. Cronbach’s alpha and
Lin’s concordance statistics of the data were computed.
Results: Test-retest reliability was below the satisfactory level. Specifically, internal consistency was low for Time 1 but improvement was observed in Time 2.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that fundamental knowledge about mental health may be required for individuals to understand the items. Recommendations were provided for future studies to explore the usability of the MAKS-M.
The Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) assesses medical students’ attitudes towards learning communication skills and had been widely utilised all over the world.
This questionnaire has 26 items framed within two subscales. This study aimed to examine the validity and reliability of the CSAS among medical students in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).
Methods: This was a cross sectional questionnaire validation study among 171 first year medical students from UiTM. The CSAS had undergone content and face validation, followed by psychometric analysis using principal component analysis to assess construct validity. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach alpha.
Results: Factor analysis confirmed the original two-subscale structure of the CSAS (positive attitude scale, PAS and negative attitude scale, NAS). A total of 4 items were removed due to poor factor loading (1 item from PAS and 3 items from NAS). The final validated CSAS consisted of 22 items, 14 and 8 items for the PAS and NAS respectively. Cronbach alphas calculated were 0.862 for the PAS and 0.565 for the NAS.
Conclusion: This study produced a validated and reliable CSAS to measure the attitude of UiTM medical students towards learning communication skills. Given the low internal reliability of the NAS in this study, future studies should include translating and validating the CSAS into the Malay language to improve its psychometric properties. Future studies should also include medical students from the three major ethnic groups and other medical schools in Malaysia to improve the generalisability of the CSAS.
The prevalence of occupational stress among academician is increasing in developed and developing countries. The job is not only to teach, but also involve in doing research, publications, consultation and administrative work. This study aims to assess the prevalence of occupational stress among academic staff in a research university and to investigate the association and correlation between stress and job factors which are career development, research, teaching and interpersonal relationship. One research university in Malaysia was selected randomly. A cross-sectional study was conducted and the respondents were recruited by using a randomized stratified sampling method. A total of 380 self-administered and validated Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and Stress Sources Questionnaires (SSQ) were distributed among academic staff between March to May 2012. The statistical analyses used were χ2, independent–t test and Pearson Correlation. Response rate was 81.1%. Stress prevalence was 22.1%. All socio-demographic factors showed no association with stress except ethnic group. Teaching, research and career development had significant association with stress among academic staff (p<0.05). Overall result showed career development, that include university condition and required publications for promotion were the greatest source of stress among the academicians. Occupational stress showed positive linear relationship to career development, research and teaching. There was a fair positive relationship between occupational stress and career development, research and teaching. It is recommended to organize continuous stress assessment program to identify and evaluate the current level of stress at the university level. This data could be a foundation for implementing prevention and control measures to reduce stress in the workplace.
Keywords: academic staff, lecturer, occupational stress, research, teaching, career development, interpersonal relationship, research university, job stress
Open disclosure is poorly understood in Malaysia but is an ethical and professional responsibility. The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) the perception of parents regarding the severity of medical error in relation to medication use or diagnosis; (2) the preference of parents for information following the medical error and its relation to severity; and (3) the preference of parents with regards to disciplinary action, reporting, and legal action.
INTRODUCTION: Dental care has remained as an unmet need for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs). Dental students are considered as future healthcare workforce and having beliefs which are discriminating may have negative attitudes towards providing care to these individuals (Azodo et al., 2010). The study aimed to assess the ethical beliefs and attitudes of dental students towards PLWHAs for providing care.
METHODS: It is a descriptive correlational and cross sectional study. Nine public and private dental schools in Malaysia participated in the study. Data was collected using a validated self-administered questionnaire.
RESULTS: A total of 481 dental students participated in this study, yielding response rate of 78%. Majority of the participants (74%) believed that patients' HIV status should be disclosed to patients' sexual partner without permission. Approximately 60% of the participants reported that rooms/beds of HIV patients should be clearly marked. Regarding patient disease status 28% of the students reported that it is appropriate to test a patient for HIV/AIDS without patient's permission. Only Fifty five percent of the students expressed the willingness to treat HIV patients and 49% reported to held fear of getting infected while treating patients with HIV/AIDS. Sixty four percent of the participants reported to be more comfortable giving care to non-HIV patients than HIV-positive patients.
CONCLUSION: Dental students' ethical beliefs about HIV/AIDS were not consistent with the ethical principles as stated in the code of ethics and they held negative attitudes towards PLWHAs. Ethical beliefs were found to be a determinant that may influence future attitudes of these students towards individuals with HIV/AIDS when providing care.
Introduction: The increasing burden of Non-Communicable Diseases and their prevalence has led Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia to introduce a community empowerment program “Komuniti Sihat, Perkasa Negara” acronymed as KOSPEN in July 2013. Thirty thousand community health volunteers have been trained nationwide up to May 2015.
Objective: To identify the factors associated with knowledge on KOSPEN and its implementation among community health volunteers in Kulim District.
Methods: A cross-sectional study based on simple random sampling was conducted among community health volunteers Kulim District. Volunteers participated in this study were 194. Data collected using self-administered questionnaire. All data collected were analysed using IBM SPSS version 22 involving descriptive and inferential statistics with significance level set at 0.05.
Results: The study found that level of knowledge on KOSPEN is associated with employment status (p=0.02) and awareness level (p<0.001) among the community health volunteers. The level of implementation is associated with age (p=0.025), education level (p=0.007) and employment status (p=0.017) of the community health volunteers. Employment status (aOR=2.133, 95% CI=1.056-4.306, p=0.035) and awareness level (aOR=6.119, 95% CI=2.701-13.867 p<0.001) were predictors of level of knowledge on KOSPEN. Level of implementation of KOSPEN by the community health volunteers could be predicted by education level (aOR=4.085, 95% CI=1.299-12.851 p=0.016).
Conclusion: Generally the KOSPEN volunteers had good knowledge on KOSPEN and implementation of KOSPEN program. However, there are still misconceptions among the KOSPEN volunteers regarding their functions and role. Therefore it is important to empower the volunteers with awareness on their roles, functions and good knowledge.
Work-life balance play an important role in influencing employee’s quality of social and working life together with job satisfaction in the organization. Nowadays, teachers are also included in the context of work-life balance due to academic workload and career issues. In
this study, researchers aim to explore work-life balance policies that influence teacher’s job satisfaction in selected Malaysia boarding school. Only 56 school teachers were selected to represent as respondents consist of teachers from language, mathematics, science, social science, counselling unit, and vice principals department. The questionnaires were distributed using convenience sampling. The elements of work-life balance policies such as flexibility policies, welfare policies, job design and leave provisions were included in this study to examine potential influence on teacher’s job satisfaction. Based on statistical analysis using SPSS, Pearson Correlation analysis four elements of work-life balance policies indicated positive and significant relationship with job satisfaction, with flexibility policies showed the strongest relationship toward teacher’s job satisfaction. Most of teachers in selected Malaysian boarding school also demonstrated high level of job satisfaction at the workplace.
Background: Consistent with other countries, Malaysia suffers from a shortage of nursing faculty. In several studies it has been seen that job satisfaction has been shown to contribute to retention of nurse educators. The majority of these studies are from developed countries and were conducted over ten years ago. As a result these findings may not be relevant to contemporary Malaysia. So, the purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of job satisfaction among nurse lecturers in Malaysia.
Methods: A total of 20 nursing colleges throughout Malaysia were selected for random sampling, of which 30% agreed to participate. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire with additional demographic and organizational characteristics questions was used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics was used to examine differences in job satisfaction between demographic and organizational variables. Spearman’s rho was used to test the relationship between each of the demographic / organizational characteristics and overall job satisfaction.
Results: A total of 73 nurse lecturers (73% response rate) returned the completed questionnaire. The findings indicated only a moderate level of job satisfaction. There were no significant correlations between demographic or organizational variables and overall job satisfaction levels with the exception of the number of students (p = 0.017).
Conclusions: An understanding of the factors affecting job satisfaction among nursing faculty could enhance retention and recruitment in this profession. Further research using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches is recommended to provide an in-depth understanding of nursing lecturers’ perceptions of job satisfaction.
Keywords: Nurse Job Satisfaction, Nurse Lecturers, Nurse Job
Background: Menopause is a condition that every woman faces in later life and can have many associated effects which might disrupt the quality of life.
Aim: To determine both the prevalence of menopause and menopausal symptoms in a group of employed Malaysian women and to determine their sources of information regarding menopause.
Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among female teachers aged 35 and above in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia between 1 June and 31 December 2000. A total of 550 self administered questionnaires were distributed to teachers selected through simple random sampling of selected schools.
Results: The response rate was 78.9%. The prevalence of menopause was 21.9%. There was a high prevalence of skin dryness (44.2%), hot flushes (43.2%), fatigue (41.0%) and excessive sweating (34.7%) among the menopausal respondents and there was a significant difference between menopausal and non menopausal symptoms of respondents (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The prevalence of menopause and each menopausal symptom are high in the present group of women. Improved health care programs about the menopause might help give women a better quality of life.
Human nose can be found in many shapes and sizes. Racial, ethnic and environmental influences can result in different appearances of the nose. Nasal parameters such as nasal height, nasal width and nasal index were investigated in the Malay population, using convenient sampling methods. Study sample consisted of 80 young Malay adults (40 males, 40 females) aged 19-30 years. The mean + SD values of nasal height of Malay male and female were 52.2 + 5.3 and 50.4 + 9.7 respectively. The mean + SD values of nasal width of Malay male and female were 39.7 + 3.0 and 36.7 + 3.2 respectively. Mean nasal indices in male and female were 76.66 and 74.55 respectively. The predominant nose type in Malay was found to be of mesorrhine type (medium nose) in both male (67.5%) and female (70%). These findings were comparable with studies done in other Asian races such as Malaysian Indian, Chinese and other Indians. The findings of this study may contribute to satisfactory outcomes in cosmetic and reconstructive rhinoplastic surgery, anthropology, and forensic medicine in the Malay population.
Objective: Immunisation is known to be an effective health intervention that protects children from infectious diseases. Of all children, infants are the most vulnerable if they experience a vaccine preventable disease. The aim of the study was to determine the immunisation status of hospitalised infants, to obtain the reasons of incomplete immunisation and to assess carers' knowledge on immunisation.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Institute of Paediatrics at Hospital Kuala Lumpur over a 2-month period from June to August 2001. Data were collected through an interview using a structured questionnaire, with the carer of the infant. Questions pertaining to the immunisation status of the infant, reasons of incomplete immunisation and the carer's knowledge of immunisation were assessed.
Results: 115 infants were admitted during the study period; however, only 100 carers of the infants were available for an interview. The average age of the infants was 5.7 months. 22% of the infants had incomplete immunisation. 64% of them had missed more than one vaccine. The commonest missed vaccine was the 3'4 dose of diptheria-pertussistetanus (DP1) and polio vaccine. Reasons of incomplete immunisation include misconception on contraindication of immunisation perceived by both parents and health providers, missed appointment and communication breakdown with health facilities regarding appointment dates. The under-immunisation rate in the study population was 22%. The underimmunisation rate in the study population was 22%.
Conclusion: Health providers and the public need to be educated on the importance of immunisation and the associated valid contraindications.
Keywords: Infants, carer, under-immunisation, incomplete immunisation
Objective: This study was done to identify blood donors with thalassaemia and iron deficiency. A cross sectional study was carried out at Pusat Darah Negara (PDN), Kuala Lumpur in November 2003.
Methods: Full blood counts were done on 242 blood donors (166 males and 76 females) Hb analysis and serum ferritin assay were done for all the samples. The first time donors were used as controls.
Results: Only 20 (8.3%) donors had MCV <80 fL and MCH <26pg. Six of the 25 donors with iron deficiency had a low MCV <80 fL) and low MCH <26 pg) but all the 8 (40%) donors with thalassaemia or HbE had a low MCV and MCH! The mean ferritin levels were found to be lower among regular blood donors (95.3 ug/L) compared to first time blood donors (116.6 ug/L) but this was not statistically significant. There were 25 donors who were iron deficient: one was a first time donor and 24 were regular donors - 12 (50%) had donated 3 times a year in the last two years. Iron deficiency was seen in 12 Malays, and 9 Chinese, and 4 Indians. 13.3% of the males (22 out of 166 donors) and 4% (3 of 76) of female donors were iron deficient. Thalassaemia and HbE were found in 8 donors. HbE trait was identified in 5 Malay donors. One Malay and 1 Chinese donor had beta-thalassaemia trait. Another Chinese had alpha (a^o) thalassaemia trait. Neither HbE nor thalassaemia were seen in the Indian donors.
Conclusion: In this study thalassaemia and RbE were seen in 3.3% and iron deficiency in 10.3% of the 242 blood donors at PDN. Iron deficiency was present in 3.2% of the first time donors and 12.8% of the regular donors. Regular donors should have the serum ferritin done for their iron status and if their MCV and MCH are low, Hb analysis for thalassaemia or haemoglobinopathy.
Keywords: Blood donors, serum ferritin, iron deficiency, haemoglobinopathy
Citation: Institute for Public Health (IPH) 2012. The National Health and Morbidity Survey: Malaysia Global School-based Student Health Survey 2012. Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of Health Malaysia.
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/NHMS2012-GlobalSchoolBasedStudentHealthSurvey.pdf
Study name: Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS); NHMS-2012
Malaysia School-Based Nutrition Survey 2012
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/NHMS2012-MalaysiaSchoolBasedNutritionSurvey.pdf
State level reports:
Johor
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Johor.pdf
Kedah
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Kedah.pdf
Kelantan
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Kelantan.pdf
Kuala Lumpur
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Kuala%20Lumpur.pdf
Melaka
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Melaka.pdf
Negeri Sembilan
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012NegeriSembilan.pdf
Pahang
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Pahang.pdf
Perak
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Perak.pdf
Perlis
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Perlis.pdf
Pulau Pinang
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Penang.pdf
Putrajaya
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Putrajaya.pdf
Sabah & Labuan
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012SabahDanLabuan.pdf
Sarawak
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Sarawak.pdf
Selangor
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Selangor.pdf
Terengganu
http://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2012/NHMS2012Terengganu.pdf
Employee deviance has received increasing attention in the past decade. Past research have reported that work environment related factors such as organizational support, supervisory support, role conflict, and job demand were associated with deviant behavior The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between job demand (psychological job demand), and job resources (social support), and employee workplace deviant behavior. This study adopts a cross-sectional correlation study design. A total of 315 employees were selected using cluster sampling technique participated in this study. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire using the drop and collect method. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis (mean, standard deviation, frequency distribution) to describe the demographic profile and study variables. Correlation and regression analysis was performed to test the relationship between psychological job demand, and social support, and employee workplace deviant behaviors. The result revealed that lack of social support has significant positive influence on employee workplace deviant behavior. The findings suggest that lack of job resources such as social support may drive employees to engage in deviant work behavior. However, high job demand experienced by employees does not drive them towards engaging in deviant work behavior.
The aim of this study was to examine the expectations about counselling among the Orang Asli students in secondary schools in the Cameron Highlands district of Malaysia. Data was collected using the Expectations about Counselling Questionnaire which was distributed to 436 respondents. The findings showed that the expectations of counselling sessions among the Orang Asli students were high (mean= 4.605, 79%). The counsellor expertise factor was the most dominant (mean=4.84, 69.14 %). It was found that the expectations about counselling among the Orang Asli students were significant between the expectation dimension (personal commitment, facilitative conditions, counsellor expertise, and counsellor nurturance) and the variables of gender, age and client status. There was no significant relationship between their expectations and the religion and residence variables. In conclusion, this study was successful in giving a general picture about the students’ expectations of counselling sessions.
A study of 50 healthy nurses from the University Hospital showed that 72% had chronic headache. Among those who had chronic headache, 33% were due to migraine. Another 30% were probable migraine subjects and 33% suffered from tension headache. Twenty two nurses had headache more than once a month and 18 nurses described the headache as moderate to severe. The common precipitating factors mentioned were tension, exposure to the sun, lack of sleep and menstruation.