A 28-year-old man presented with a chief complaint of rashes all over his body. He had a history of a trip to Langkawi Island, a famous island resort off the west coast of Malaysia, over the Chinese New Year’s weekend. According to him, he had a lot of fun with a group of friends at the sunny beach and the beautiful sea. There were no untoward incidents and they were perfectly well when they returned home after a 2-day trip. On the evening of the second day after his return, he noticed rashes appearing over his body, notably on shoulders and trunk. These rashes were little painful in nature.
Friendship is a topic that should be emphasized and studied, and it can be positive or negative. There are many forms of friendship that can be termed, but it may also differ from one's perspective and certain characteristics of a person. The value of friendship is very important to study in order to know the level of our friendships. In college student development, peer influence can also influence student engagement in engaging in their college activities. It can be seen in terms of involvement in sports activities, curriculum activities and more. The main purpose of this study was to develop of Friendship instrument in chemistry and engagement of SQS UUM students and find the relationships between genders with chemistry and engagement. Using Factor Analysis in order to develop valid and reliable of the friendship Instrument based on chemistry and engagement. In order to study the validity of the data, face validity was used before the instrument was distributed in which the pilot study was conducted. To determine which factor is best, the analysis uses varimax rotation and selects which component is best and meets the criteria. Normality test was used to find the data was normal or nonnormal. Spearman Correlation and Chi Square Test method used in the non-normal data to find the relationship of selected variables.
The return of ex-prisoners who were released from prison into an environment filled with fellow
friends could lead to negative influences such as drug addiction and crime repetition among former
prisoners. This paper has been derived from a doctorate study studying the repeatition of crimes that
occurred among former prisoners in Malaysia. The findings of the study have found that former
prisoners often return to their fellow members due to family absence. This study has been used
qualitative methods by interviewing 16 ex-prisoners identified through the technique of snowball
sampling. The finding revealed that all these former prisoners from different state were concentrated
around the Chow Kit road. Addiction, as a result of invitation process by friends. This situation are
make the study to proven relationship between the influence of friends and drug abused among the
former prisoners.
A cross sectional study was carried amongst adolescent school children in Barat Daya, in 2000. This was to determine the characteristic features of adolescents in the district and to look into their sexual activities, substance use and psychosocial problems with the aim to plan an appropriate adolescent health program. Some 400 students from Form 2 and Form 4 were selected by purposive stratifed and systematic sampling. The study was carried out by trained nurses with an interview using a structured questionnaire. The majority of the respondents were Malays (78.8%) with a household income of less than RM2, 000.00 per if month. Family relations and parental influence were found to be strong. Mental health characteristics scored negatively significantly in this study and those particularly at risk were those who performed poorly in schools. Most claimed not to be involved in high risk behaviour though they knew of friends who did so. Adolescent health services in the district should take an integrated approach with other stakeholders. Health information should be easily available and focus should be given to poor achievers in school.
The aims of the study were to investigate patient satisfaction and perceived psychosocial benefit from orthodontic treatment and to relate them to factors ajfecting treatment duration and treatment standards. A total of 130 patients (mean age I5 years) who had just completed full fixed appliance therapy (removable appliance) filled questionnaires. There was high proportion of satisfaction with dentofacial appearance (98.5 %), alignment of teeth (100 %), improved mastication (99.2%) and cleaning of teeth (98.5%). About 89.2% would recommend orthodontic treatment to their friends. All surveyed were satisfied with the services provided by the orthodontic staff and kw patients were dissatisfied with the length of each appointment (3.] %), number of appointments (l.5%) and total treatment time (5.4%). The main dissatisfaction appeared to be the long waiting time to be treated during their appointments (10%}. The mean duration of treatment to complete two-arch fixed appliance was I 7.6 months (S.D. 6.8 months) and 89.2% of cases were completed within 24 months. Treatment duration was also associated with pre-treatment ovemet (r=0.23 5), ovetjet d%rence_h·om pre-treatment to post-treatment 0·=0.204} and number of extractions (r=0.305}. Multmle linear regression anahtsis of duration of treatment with these factors accounted for about 7.8% ofthe variability.
Study site: Dental clinic, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
This is a cross-sectional study to determine the association between religious perception and smoking behavior of secondary male students in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on 526 secondary four male students from eight randomly selected schools in Kota Bharu. There were 182 (34.6%) students who were current smokers, 12 (2.3%) were ex-smokers and 332 (63.1%) were non·smokers. More than half of the current smokers (53.4%) smoked regularly. Student’s perceptions on the religious opinion on smoking were signihcantly associated with smoking behavior. Other significant risk factors were having close friends who smoke, their perceptions on benefits and negative effects of smoking and the level of
y relationship with their fathers. These factors were also found to be good predictors of student's smoking status. Health education programs to control smoking should include the religious aspect of smoking to improve it’s effectiveness.
The high morbidity and mortality caused by smoking is a major public health problem today. Smoking prevention has been acknowledged and identified as a long-term measure to overcome this problem. This is a longitudinal knowledge; attitude and practice (KAP) study among form five students over l year. The response rate at follow‘up was 251/337 (74.5 %). The smoking prevalence changed after 1 year (from 29.7% to 26. 7%) after one year. The male to female smoking rates were 52.1% to 3.1% respectively. Students who smoke were found to have a positive attitude as well as poor knowledge of the risks of smoking. The initiation risk factors identified were being male and having a friend who smokes Positive peer influence also contributed to smoking cessation after a period of one year. Holistic measures that stress on micro macro and approaches such as health education programe to enhance knowledge of smoking hazards and community participation ( cooperation of school, family and community member) should be fomtulated in order to reduce initiation of smoking among the adolescents. Quit smoking programmes must also be readily available.
This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to assess patient's satisfaction by evaluating the waiting time experienced by 27 (54%) inpatients and 23 (46%) outpatients who sought treatment at a private hospital in Selangor from 15th of May 2006 until 3rd of]une 2006. Majority of the patients (78%) were in the range between Z 1 - 40 years old and well»educated. Almost half (48%) were in the human resources employment category, 20% were in administration and marketing and 10% were professionals. Majority of them earned from RM1000-1999 (34%) and RMZ000-3999 (32%). Almost all of them (96%) agreed that the medical care that they had been receiving in the hospital was just about perfect. 98% agreed that the doctors treated them in a very friendly and courteous manner and 96% rated the care given by nurses as g0od/ excellent. 88% to 92% said that their communication with the doctors, nurses and other staff were good/ excellent. 80% waited less than 15 minutes at the registration counter, 52% waited less than 15 minutes to see the doctor and 44% waited less than 15 minutes at other places such as pharmacy and x-ray. Overall, 94% rated the level of services in the hospital as good/ excellent, Almost all (90%) would like to recommend the hospital to their friends and relatives. Our study demonstrated that the majority of the patients were satisfied with the doctors, nurses and environment of the private hospital. The average waiting time of patient before being attended to by a doctor was less than 30 minutes.
Study site: Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM)
Cervical cancer is the seventh most common cancer among women in Iraq. This study aimed to assess the factors influencing Pap smear practice among married primary school teachers in Diyala City, Iraq. A total of 222 teachers (aged 20 years to 63 years) residing in Diyala City were enrolled in a cross sectional study from 1st August till 30th September 2012. The sampling method was a self-administered survey using a multistage sampling technique. The prevalence of Pap smear practice was very low (12.6%). Relatives and friends were the main source of information about the Pap smear test for more than one third (41.9%) of the respondents. However, the medical doctor’s advice was the most important reason for undergoing a Pap smear test in more than two third (60.7%) of respondents. Only 32.4% of the teachers have good knowledge about cervical cancer and Pap smear test, but 76.1% of them showed a positive attitude toward learning about cervical cancer and Pap smear. Based on multiple logistic regression analysis results only the husband’s encouragement (p= 0.003, prevalence odds ratio [POR] = 0.256, 95%CI 0.10-0.63) was significantly associated with Pap smear practice. A more effective educational program is needed to educate Iraqi women about cervical cancer and screening tests, including Pap smear.
Teenage pregnancy carries serious impacts on adolescent health. This study aimed to examine the effects of pregnancy on adolescents and to explore how they cope with the problems they faced during the pregnancy. It involved 26 adolescents residing in a government shelter home in Kuala Lumpur. A self-administered questionnaire containing a mixture of open- and closed-ended questions was used. Among physical (sleeping problem and self-care problem), psychological (emotional difficulties and low self-efficacy) and social (stigma and discrimination, financial difficulty, friendship problem and school dropout) problems, emotional difficulties were the most common problems, whereas stigma and discrimination was the least common. Young adolescents aged less than 16 years old were significantly associated with poor self-care (p=0.01). To cope with their problems, the adolescents generally used avoidance, withdrawal, and social support, particularly from parents and peers. Doctors were the least popular among all. In conclusion, holistic and individualised care is needed. Strategies to reduce emotional problem experienced by pregnant adolescents should be implemented. The available healthcare services for teenage pregnancy should also be promoted.
Adolescents are known to obtain information regarding sexual and reproductive health from a variety of sources and not just during formal lessons in schools. This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out to determine the source of information on sexual and reproductive health among Form four secondary schools girls in the Klang Valley as well as parents’ relationship profile. A total of 520 secondary school girls were recruited for the study. In this study, the source of information on puberty and sexual topics were categorized as follows: first level of importance - mothers, second level of importance - siblings, third level of importance - fathers, fourth level of importance - friends, fifth level of importance - teachers and sixth level of importance - books/internet. A majority of respondents agreed that their mothers were the first level of importance they sought for information on puberty (74.8%) and sexual topics (53.8%). Thirty nine point three percent (39.3%) of respondents reported it was very easy to have a dialogue with their mothers while only 10.0% of the respondents said it was very easy to have a dialogue with their fathers. While this was the case, only 6.3% of the respondents reported discussing sex-related matter with their mothers.
Leisure involvement is an essential element in the daily life of the elderly people. Little is known, however, about the perceived leisure constraints among them, especially among the increasing elderly population in Malaysia. This study aims to explore constraints perceived by the elderly that prevent them from actively involved in leisure. In depth interviews were conducted, involving a total of 20 elderly aged 60 years and above with stratification by background characteristics. Each interview was conducted for an average of 15 to 30 minutes and discontinued when a saturation point was achieved. They were purposively selected from two health clinics located in two different districts in the state of Selangor, representing an urban and a rural area. Elderly participation in leisure activities was constrained by many factors. These factors can be divided into individual, family and community factors such as increasing age and related physical deterioration , education level, health status and the existence of chronic illness, absence of family member or friends to perform the activity together and non-conducive environment. The constraints should be endorsed and acknowledged by the relevant agencies and authorities in order to facilitate effective implementation of related policies, strategies and programmes to improve the health of the elderly people. These include the provision of appropriate services and facilities to cater senior citizens from various health and demographic perspectives.
Introduction: There is increasing awareness of the contribution of perceived social support (PSS) to emotional and physical well-being. Numerous scales measuring PSS have been developed, including the widely used Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The psychometric properties of the MSPSS have been demonstrated in diverse samples, however mostly are conducted in English. Malay is the official languange in Malaysia, and this study was conducted to provide evidence of the validity and reliability of a Malay version MSPSS (MSPSS-M) suited for our population.
Methods: This is a cross sectional study. The socio-demographic and clinical information of the selected patients from psychiatric outpatient clinic over a 3-month period, were obtained via pre-designed questionnaire, interviews and medical records. Assessment of psychiatric symptoms and social support were measured by various instruments including the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E), Depressive, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and MSPSS-M.
Results: Data were reported for 228 psychiatric outpatients with the mean age of 40.3 years old. The 3-factor structure of the MSPSS-M (significant others, family, and friends) fitted the data well. The MSPSS-M showed good internal consistency (Cronbach α of 0.89) and validity. The scores of the total subscales for MSPSS-M were negatively correlated with the depression subscale in DASS (P < 0.05). BPRS was negatively correlated with significant others (P < 0.01) compared to the other two subscales in MSPSS-M.
Conclusions: The Malay version MSPSS (MSPSS-M) is a psychometrically valid instrument with high internal consistency, which is useful in assessing perceived social support in Malaysian population.
Study site: psychiatric clinic, University Malaya
Medical Center (UMMC)
Background: Social support is the perception that one is cared for, has assistance available from friends and significant others. Social support can be measured by The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. This scale has been widely used and validated in different languages. Objective: To determine the factor structure of The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support scale and find its reliability. Method: The study was conducted in one of the Universities in Malaysia. The undergraduate students who volunteered to participate in the study were explained about the purpose of the study and implications. The English version of Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support scale (MSPSS) that was administered. In all 313 undergraduate students were studied. Exploratory factor analysis, with varimax rotation, was applied to the data Results: The three factor solution accounted for 80.51 % of the total variance. The procedure output has an overall alpha of 0.921. Conclusion: The MSPSS appears to be good enough to be used in Malaysia however more studies are required.
This paper looks at some of the problems encountered when cases of abuse and injuries occur in children placed in child care in an urban community in Malaysia. It is based on the study of 37 children referred to our hospital's Child Protection Services over the past four years for injuries and incidents where the child-minders came under suspicion. They constituted 12% of the 285 children referred to the Child Protection Team during that period for evaluation of suspected child abuse. Twenty six children had experienced physical trauma. Fifty eight percent of these were young infants with cranial injuries or limb fractures but no history to explain their occurrence. Four had superficial injuries from accidents secondary to inadequate supervision. The other 11 children had been sexually abused. The perpetrators in 73% of cases were either the husbands or sons of the child-minder. Ninety five percent of the incidents occured at home-based nurseries. Prospects of any punitive measures were remote in most instances due to uncertainty about the perpetrator, or insufficient corroborative evidence required in sexual abuse cases. There were three documented cases where the family refused to lodge a police report or co-operate with investigations out of a reluctance to implicate or offend the child-minders who were mainly neighbours, relatives or friends in 58% of cases. Ninety seven percent of the facilities were unregistered, making surveillance for recurrent incidents and adherence to safety standards difficult. These incidents were almost certainly an underestimate of the problem. Training of child-care providers, improved legislation and enforcement as well as education of parents to choose suitable facilities are issues which need to be tackled.
Introduction: The impact of irrational use of drug is reduction in the quality of drug therapy leading to increased morbidity and mortality. The main objective was to obtain baseline information regarding the prescribing pattern for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) by physicians in the outpatient departments (OPDs) of two selected polyclinics in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Methods: Four hundred (200 from each polyclinic) prescriptions containing NSAIDs were collected, photocopied and later analyzed. Two hundred selected patients (100 from each polyclinic) attending the OPDs were interviewed using a questionnaire. Results: Educated and higher income group of patients mostly attended in private polyclinic (PPC) whereas comparatively less educated and lower income group of patients generally attended government UMS polyclinic (UPC). Analgesics with no or minimal anti-inflammatory effects were the most commonly prescribed NSAIDs in the OPD of UPC. On the contrary, analgesics with potent anti-inflam-matory effects were the most commonly prescribed NSAIDs in PPC. Due to the nature of potent drugs, socioeco-nomically advantaged patients attending PPC is more likely to develop adverse effects. Therefore, the prescribers in PPC had to prescribe additional drugs to counter the adverse effects of NSAIDs, hence increasing the cost of drugs prescribed compared to UPC. The patients taking NSAIDs before coming to hospital were influenced by pharmacists, friends and doctor’s advice given previously. Conclusions: The overall prescribing pattern of NSAIDs among two polyclinics is satisfactory, although there may be scopes for improvement. Educational intervention can be designed for rational prescribing to improve the quality of health care.
Introduction: Secondhand tobacco smoke is a known carcinogen and has shown positive association with smok-ing status, susceptibility and cessation. Smoke free environment policy seem to reduce this exposure and influence intention to quit and frequency of quit attempts. Despite having a smoke free policy, smokers are still exposed to second hand smoke and this might influence their smoking behaviour and cessation. The objective of this study was to examine the association between environmental tobacco smoke exposures with intention to quit smoking among young adults in college with smoke free policy. Methods: Data were drawn from a cluster based randomised controlled trial in 10 government colleges in Selangor. Baseline characteristics of 160 college smokers were mea-sured using adapted questionnaire. Intention to quit was measured using Transtheoretical Model and environmental influence of tobacco smoke exposure. Results: Majority of the smokers were male (99.4%), single (100%), of Malay ethnicity (94.4%) and Muslim (95.6%). Most of them are in pre-contemplation stage where they do not have any intention to quit (65.6%). On environmental influence, at work or college environmental exposure, majority were exposed between 1 to 2 hours (36.9%) and 3 to 8 hours (40.6%). On exposure at home or hostel, majority were exposed between 1 to 4 hours (44.4%) and 5 to 14 hours (21.9%). In terms of friend’s exposures, majority have most of their friends smoking (68.1%). We found no statistically significant association between environmental influence and intention to quit smoking. Conclusion: Although we found no relationship, future research should examine the pathway between environmental influence and smoking behaviour.
Introduction: Family planning practice is important among the high-risk mothers. Thus, the knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning among health care workers are very important in influencing the use of contraception among them. The objective of this study was to determine level of knowledge, attitudes and practices related to contraception among doctors and nurses in Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 300 doctors and nurses working in the Maternal and Child Health Unit from six large public health clin-ics in Petaling district was conducted in May 2019. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Results: A total of 109 doctors and 149 nurses participated in this study. The response rate was 86%. The median duration of service in KKM and working in MCH were 9 years (IQR 6.0) and 3 years (IQR 6.0) respectively. Majority (74%) had attended CME on family planning. The mean score of knowledge was 9.0 (out of 13) (SD 1.899). In terms of attitude, 51.6% would often suggest family planning to relatives or friends. Three common perceived barriers for effective counselling on family planning were too many patients (94.5%), time constraint (91.7%) and inadequate knowledge on contraception (60.4%). Common preferred methods of contraception among users were hormonal method (33.1%), followed by barrier (condom) method (29.5%). Medical officers had better knowledge score as compared to nurses (p
Introduction: Antenatal period is the best time to promote physical activity among women. However, this oppor-tunity is usually missed due to various factors such perceived harm to the baby, tiredness, difficulty to perform the activities, pelvic and back pain, lack of information, as well as low social support. This study determined the associ-ation of social support with the level of physical activity among pregnant women in the district of Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. Methods: A total of 936 antenatal women met the eligibility criteria and were enrolled in a cross-sectional study using proportionate stratified random sampling. Data on social support from the spouse, family and friend were obtained using a 5-point Likert scale while physical activity was assessed using a short version of the Interna-tional Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Statistical analysis was conducted using chi-square test to evaluate the association between the study variables. Results: A total of 880 respondents completed the questionnaire. Out of that, 64.2% were physically inactive. Significant associations were found between social support from the spouse (p < 0.001), family (p = 0.001) and friends (p = 0.004) with the level of physical activity among the respondents. Conclusion: Social support plays a pivotal role in motivating antenatal women to perform physical activity. Thus, health intervention on physical activity among these women should involve the spouse, family members and friends to ensure the success of the program.
Local profiles on the use of weight loss products are scarce. The study aims to address this together with concerns on the users’ misperception of the safety of these products, and the absence of high-quality evidence to support such use. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in overweight and obese patients attending a public primary care clinic in Penang. Selected patients were given a set of self-administered questionnaire that assessed types of weight loss products used, factors that influenced the usage and the users’ perception of their own body weight and the diet products they are taking. Results: From 332 participants of this study, 18.7% were users. Mean age of users were 44.6 (SD 11.9) years. The majority (66.1%) only used dietary supplements, 11.3% used weight loss medications and the rest (22.6%) used both products. Reasons for its use were for health, a faster result to lose weight and failing dieting and exercise regimes. The average amount spent on this was RM100 per month. Commonest source of weight loss products were friends. Majority (80.6%) did not discuss the use of the products with doctors. Factors associated with the use of weight loss products were being female (AOR=5.59), had tertiary level education (AOR=2.27), being employed (AOR=3.42), self-perceived of overweight (AOR=3.61) and perception that weight loss products as safe (AOR 2.48). Conclusion: Users of weight loss products are among highly educated working females who perceived themselves as being overweight and assume the products are safe.