METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted among 2120 cancer patients in Peninsular Malaysia, between April 2016 to January 2017. All cancer patients aged 18 years old and above, Malaysian citizens and undergoing cancer treatment at government hospitals were approached to participate in this study and requested to complete a set of validated questionnaires. Inferential statistical tests such as t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to determine the differences between demographic variables, physical effects, clinical factors, psychological effects and self-esteem with the quality of life of cancer patients. Predictor(s) of quality of life were determined by using Multivariate linear regression models.
RESULT: A total 1620 out of 2120 cancer patients participated in this study, giving a response rate of 92%. The majority of cancer patients were female 922 (56.9%), Malays 1031 (63.6%), Muslim 1031 (63.6%), received chemotherapy treatment 1483 (91.5%). Overall, 1138 (70.2%) of the patients had depression and 1500 (92.6%) had anxiety. Statistically significant associations were found between QOL and clinical factors, physical side effects of cancer, psychological effects and self-esteem (p
OBJECTIVES: This article aims to explain paediatric cancer parents' information behaviour related to the care of their child.
METHODS: Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with fourteen Malaysian paediatric cancer parents and eight healthcare professionals who worked with paediatric cancer patients. Reflexivity and inductive approaches were used to interpret the data to identify meaningful themes and subthemes.
RESULTS: Three themes about how paediatric cancer parents interact with information emerged: Acquiring information, internalising information, and using information. Information may be actively sought or passively acquired. Cognitive and affective aspects influence how information is internalised into meaningful knowledge. Knowledge then leads to further action including further information gathering.
CONCLUSION: Paediatric cancer parents need health literacy support to meet their information needs. They require guidance in identifying and appraising suitable information resources. Development of suitable supporting materials is needed to facilitate parents' ability to comprehend information related to their child's cancer. Understanding parents' information behaviour could assist healthcare professionals in providing information support in the context of paediatric cancer.
METHODS: A parallel-group unblinded randomized controlled trial involving 300 patients was conducted in two hospital orthopedics clinics in Malaysia. Patients were randomly assigned to receive cognitive behavioral-based group therapy (n = 150) or no further intervention (n = 150). The primary outcome was the change from baseline in knee pain as determined by the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) at 6 months. The data collected were analyzed by covariate-adjusted mixed design repeated measures analysis of variance. All analyses were performed under the terms of intention-to-treat.
RESULTS: At 6 months, mean change from baseline in the KOOS knee pain score was 0.6 points (95% CI -1.73 to 2.94) in the control group and 8.9 points (95% CI 6.62 to 11.23) (denoting less knee pain intensity) in the intervention group (significant treatment effect p < 0.0001). Patients treated with such an approach also experienced significant improvement in functional ability when performing activities of daily living and had improved ability to cope with depression, anxiety and pain catastrophizing.
CONCLUSION: The intervention module delivered by healthcare professionals had a sustained effect on knee OA pain and functionality over 6 months, thereby leading to an overall improvement in psychological well-being, thus benefitting most of the Malaysian knee OA patients.
METHODS: This is a prospective, single-centre, single-blind, randomised controlled pilot feasibility study: The Kegel Exercise Pregnancy Training app (KEPT-app) Trial. Sixty-four incontinent pregnant women who attended one primary care clinic for the antenatal follow-up will be recruited and randomly assigned to either intervention or waitlist control group. The intervention group will receive the intervention, the KEPT-app developed from the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) theory with Persuasive Technology and Technology Acceptance Model.
DISCUSSION: This study will provide a fine-tuning for our future randomised control study on the recruitment feasibility methods, acceptability, feasibility, and usability of the KEPT-app, and the methods to reduce the retention rates among pregnant women with UI.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov on 19 February 2021 (NCT04762433) and is not yet recruiting.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was carried out in Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 1380 Malaysian adults (≥18 years old) participated in a structured and validated questionnaire survey. TANITA body scale and SECA 206 body meter were used to measure the respondents' weight and height, from which measurements of their body mass index (BMI) were calculated.
RESULTS: The overall prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) among adults in Selangor, Malaysia, was 18.6%. Factors significantly associated with increased risk of obesity were: being female (OR = 1.61, 95% CI [1.20-2.17]), aged between 30 to 39 years old (OR = 1.40, 95% CI [1.04-1.88]), being Indian (OR = 1.55, 95% CI [1.13-2.12]), married (OR = 1.37, 95% CI [1.03-1.83]), and having only primary school education (OR = 1.80, 95% CI [1.17-2.78] or secondary school education (OR = 1.37, 95% CI [1.04-1.81]). In the multiple linear regression analysis (stepwise method), perceived stress (B = -0.107, p = 0.041), suicidal ideation (B = -2.423, p = 0.003), and quality of life in the physical health domain (B = -0.350, p = 0.003) inversely and significantly contributed to BMI among males. Among females, stressful life events contributed positively to BMI (B = 0.711, p < 0.001, whereas quality of life in the psychological domain had a negative effect (B = -0.478, p < 0.001) in this respect.
CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need to integrate psychological approaches to enhance the effectiveness of obesity prevention strategies and weight-loss programs.
Methods: A randomized control trial study was run among 2120 cancer patients in public hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia, from Apr 2016-Jan 2018. The treatment group received counselling regarding chemotherapy by using developed module. The data were collected at three time-points: baseline, 1st, 2nd and 3rd follow-ups after counseling by Validated Malay version of the WHOQOL-BREF of questionnaire. Data analyses were done using χ2 and two-way repeated measure ANOVA.
Results: The treatment group improved significantly as compared to control group in physical health, psychological health, social relationship, environment and overall QOL (P<0.00).
Conclusion: The "Managing Patients on Chemotherapy" book along with repetitive counselling by pharmacists is a useful intervention for improving QOL of cancer patients undergoing treatment.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to document the validation process in developing the Kegel Exercise Pregnancy Training app, which was designed to improve the PFMT adherence among pregnant women.
METHODS: We utilized an intervention mapping approach incorporated within the mobile health development and evaluation framework. The framework involved the following steps: (1) conceptualization, (2) formative research, (3) pretesting, (4) pilot testing, (5) randomized controlled trial, and (6) qualitative research. The user-centered design-11 checklist was used to evaluate the user-centeredness properties of the app.
RESULTS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to better understand PFMT and UI among 440 pregnant women. The study reported a UI prevalence of 40.9% (180/440), with less than half having good PFMT practice despite their good knowledge. Five focus group discussions were conducted to understand the app design preferred by pregnant women. They agreed a more straightforward design should be used for better app usability. From these findings, a prototype was designed and developed accordingly, and the process conformed to the user-centered design-11 (UCD-11) checklist. A PFMT app was developed based on the mHealth development and evaluation framework model, emphasizing higher user involvement in the application design and development. The application was expected to improve its usability, acceptability, and ease of use.
CONCLUSIONS: The Kegel Exercise Pregnancy Training app was validated using a thorough design and development process to ensure its effectiveness in evaluating the usability of the final prototype in our future randomized control trial study.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to translate and validate the English version of MAUQ (standalone for patients) into a Malay version of MAUQ (M-MAUQ) for mHealth app research and usage in future in Malaysia.
METHODS: Forward and backward translation and harmonization of M-MAUQ were conducted by Malay native speakers who also spoke English as their second language. The process began with a forward translation by 2 independent translators followed by harmonization to produce an initial translated version of M-MAUQ. Next, the forward translation was continued by another 2 translators who had never seen the original MAUQ. Lastly, harmonization was conducted among the committee members to resolve any ambiguity and inconsistency in the words and sentences of the items derived with the prefinal adapted questionnaire. Subsequently, content and face validations were performed with 10 experts and 10 target users, respectively. Modified kappa statistic was used to determine the interrater agreement among the raters. The reliability of the M-MAUQ was assessed by 51 healthy young adult mobile phone users. Participants needed to install the MyFitnessPal app and use it for 2 days for familiarization before completing the designated task and answer the M-MAUQ. The MyFitnessPal app was selected because it is one among the most popular installed mHealth apps globally available for iPhone and Android users and represents a standalone mHealth app.
RESULTS: The content validity index for the relevancy and clarity of M-MAUQ were determined to be 0.983 and 0.944, respectively, which indicated good relevancy and clarity. The face validity index for understandability was 0.961, which indicated that users understood the M-MAUQ. The kappa statistic for every item in M-MAUQ indicated excellent agreement between the raters (κ ranging from 0.76 to 1.09). The Cronbach α for 18 items was .946, which also indicated good reliability in assessing the usability of the mHealth app.
CONCLUSIONS: The M-MAUQ fulfilled the validation criteria as it revealed good reliability and validity similar to the original version. M-MAUQ can be used to assess the usability of mHealth apps in Malay in the future.