Following the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in China, undergraduate students may experience psychological changes. During emergency circumstances, social support is an important factor influencing the mental health condition among undergraduate students in Shaanxi province. This study aims to find the factors associated with mental health symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress among undergraduate students in Shaanxi province during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted from Feb 23 to Mar 7, 2020. A total of 1278 undergraduate students from the universities located in Shaanxi province participated in this study. The mental health symptoms were measured by 12-item Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) instruments. This survey showed that females receive more social support compared to males (t = -5.046, P<0.001); males have higher-level depression symptoms (t = 5.624, P<0.001); males have higher-level anxiety symptoms (t = 6.332, P<0.001), males have higher-level stress symptoms (t = 5.58, P<0.001). This study also found participants who have low social support was negatively correlated with mental health symptoms. In Conclusion, Males and low social support were associated with having the higher level of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms among undergraduate students in Shaanxi province during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Therefore, it is suggested that people should supply more social support for undergraduate students in Shaanxi province during COVID-19 pandemic.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an increasingly major world health problem. This short review using the most pertinent articles on TBI caregiving problems and needs highlights the pressing issues. Articles focusing on both TBI-caregivers' problems and needs are rarely found, especially for developing countries. Most TBI-caregiving is done by family members, whose altered lives portend burden and stresses which add to the overwhelming demand of caring for the TBI-survivor. Lack of information, financial inadequacy, anxiety, distress, coping deficits, poor adaptability, inadequate knowledge and skills, and a poor support system comprise the major problems. Dysfunctional communication between caregivers and care-receivers has been little researched. The major needs are focused on health and rehabilitation information, financial advice and assistance, emotional and social support, and positive psychological encouragement. In time, health information needs may be met, but not emotional support. Information on TBI caregiving problems and unmet needs is critical to all relevant healthcare stakeholders.
This paper reviews the conceptualization and relationship among work-family conflict,
burnout, social support and turnover intention using Job Demand Resources (JD-R) model. From the
theoretical framework of JD-R model, there is a relationship between job demand and resources that
gives impact to organization outcome. In addition, empirical evidence also shows that a relationship
exists between the above variables. Organization should address proactively how job demand and
resources influence each other that lead to organization outcome. Comprehensive understanding
regarding the above matter gives opportunity for organizations to take reasonable action to ensure
employees well-being and give benefit to the organizations themselves.
The purpose of this study was to identify the preferred coaching styles of the Malaysian Sports School athletes based on gender, age group, and types of sports they had participated. This study utilised the athletes preferred version of the Leadership Scale for Sport questionnaire (LSS). The subjects were the population of two Malaysian Sport School athletes (N = 854; Bukit Jalil Sports School = 409, Bandar Penawar Sports School = 445). The findings demonstrated that Training and Instruction (M = 4:09, SD = 73) was the most preferred leadership style by the athletes, followed by Democratic (M = 3.87, SD = .75), Social Support (M = 3.74, SD = .75) and Positive Feedback (M = 3:59, SD = .82). Autocratic behavior was the least preferred coaching style (M = 2.35, SD = 96). T-test analysis showed that there were significant differences between autocratic leadership style t(852) = 4.63, p
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.
Equity theory suggests that perceiving equity leads to better relationship outcomes than perceiving inequity. However, cultural and relationship differences in tolerance for inequity have been found, suggesting that those from more individualistic cultures may have less tolerance for inequity with friends than those from more collectivistic cultures, with the latter group discriminating more clearly in their reactions to friends and strangers. In our first study, Kadazandusun (N=282) and Australian (N=255) participants evaluated their actual reciprocity in social support with a close friend. In our second study, 103 South East Asians and 128 Australians were randomly assigned to respond to a scenario presenting equity or inequity (underbenefit or overbenefit) with either a close friend or stranger. Study 1 found that participants from both cultures reported reduced desires for future interaction, positive feelings and closeness when they experienced under-benefit as compared to over-benefit or equity. In Study 2, participants from both cultures also reported reduced desires for future interaction, positive feelings and trust when there was inequity and reported a more negative reaction to a stranger than a close friend. These findings are consistent with equity theory and support its cross-cultural applicability.
The literature has consistently shown that social support has a positive relationship with creativity. However, further investigation is needed to clarify the causal relationship between the two constructs. The present study addressed this need by exploring the impact of experimentally induced perceived social support on creativity among young adults. A total of 135 undergraduate students in Malaysia participated in an online experiment. All participants first answered the creative self-efficacy scale and were then randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups. Perceived social support was primed by a writing test and measured by the Multidimensional Scales of Perceived Social Support. Both groups also answered a divergent thinking test (measured for fluency, flexibility, and originality) and a self-rated creativity scale. Multivariate analysis of covariance showed that, after statistically controlling for the effect of creative self-efficacy, participants in the experimental group reported higher scores in perceived social support and all creativity measures than their counterparts in the control group. The results demonstrated that the manipulation is effective and the induced perceived social support leads to higher creativity. Our findings not only offer empirical evidence of the causality of social support and creativity but also has practical value for creativity development.
This study was done to validate the Tamil version of Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS-TV) among a group of Indian participants in University Malaya.
Background: Social support is an important feature in understanding posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its treatment. Non-clinical research has identified distinct profiles of culturally appropriate social support. Despite this, little research has examined cultural influences on social support in the context of PTSD.Objective: This study examined cultural differences in the associations between social support and symptoms of PTSD.Method: The study employed a cross-sectional design. Australian (n = 91) and Malaysian (n = 91) trauma survivors completed an online survey assessing PTSD symptomatology and social support (explicit and implicit social support, perceived helpfulness of support provider, attitudes towards professional help-seeking). A quasi-experimental paradigm assessed the influence of mutual (i.e. the sharing of support between relationship partners) and non-mutual support (i.e. where one person constantly receives support, while the other person constantly provides support) on negative emotion and subjective distress.Results: First, explicit social support was negatively associated with PTSD symptoms for the Australian group but not the Malaysian group. Second, perceived helpfulness of support from family was negatively associated with PTSD symptoms for the Malaysian group but not the Australian group. Third, the Malaysian group reported significantly greater distress for non-mutual support and significantly fewer negative emotions and distress for mutual support than the Australian group. Fourth, the Malaysian group reported that they were significantly more open to acknowledging psychological problems and the possibility of seeking professional help for these problems than the Australian group.Conclusions: As the PTSD social support literature continues to evolve, it is essential that cultural influences are considered given the important theoretical and clinical implications.
In this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of poor mental health and its association with loneliness and social support among 3531 undergraduate students in nine Asian countries. Mental health was assessed using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire, which was developed by the World Health Organization. Across the entire sample, we detected that nearly half of the students reported poor mental health according to the Self-Reporting Questionnaire and nearly one out of seven students felt lonely. While feeling lonely increased the odds of experiencing poor mental health (odds ratio [OR]), moderate (OR: 0.35) and strong social support (OR: 0.18) decreases the odds of experiencing poor mental health. The high prevalence of poor mental health calls for further in-depth investigations and implementation of mental health support interventions.
Introduction: Anxiety and depression in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) can lead to non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), morbidity, and mortality. Therefore, assessing the stigma, social support, and other determinants of anxiety and depression in PLWHA are important for developing further interventions. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 505 PLWHA, approached through systematic sampling, who paid routine visits to the ART center, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad. Data was collected by pretested validated hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). Version 26 of the SPSS was used to apply Logistic regression analysis to identify determinants, and the 95% confidence interval (CI) adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was calculated to assess the magnitude of the relationships. Results: In PLWHA, the prevalence of co-morbid depression and anxiety was 80%. Separately, 89.9% had depression, and 80.3% had anxiety. Use of illicit drugs [AOR = 1.87, 95% CI (1.01, 3.27)], low social support [AOR = 1.21, 95% CI (1.02, 2.25)], being male [AOR = 2.21, 95% CI (1.11, 5.49)], and HIV related stigma [AOR = 2.48, 95% CI (1.25, 6.02)] were significant predictors of depression. Having detectable viral load [AOR = 3.04, 95% CI (1.04, 8.86)], young age [AOR = 5.31, 95% CI (1.19, 29.39)], no formal education [AOR = 21.78, 95% CI (4.03, 117.62)], low [AOR = 1.70, 95% CI (1.12, 6.93)] or moderate [AOR = 2.20, 95% CI (1.79, 6.09)] social support, illicit drugs addiction [AOR = 1.17, 95% CI (1.03, 2.55)], and HIV stigma [AOR = 54.3, 95% CI (21.20, 139.32)] had a remarkable association with anxiety. Conclusions: Given the high prevalence of anxiety and depression among PLWHA, the Pakistan Ministry of Health should focus more on monitoring mental health, expanding mental health services, and developing interventions based on identified factors to treat depression and anxiety among PLWHA.
Much research has identified safety motivation as an essential individual-level antecedent of safety performance. Recently, scholars have shown interest in workplace support as an essential factor of safety motivation. While support from different sources is theoretically distinct, each is argued to be not just an antecedent, but also an outcome of the other. A similar reciprocal relationship is also expected between support and safety motivation. Our research utilised the Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1988) to examine the role of each source of support on safety motivation; and investigate their reciprocal relationships. We used structural equation modelling to analyse three-wave longitudinal data (three months apart) from 314 firefighters throughout Malaysia. The result confirmed direct relationships and interestingly, denied that reciprocal relationships exist between organisational support, social support, and safety motivation over time. Our study recommends that the fire department should encourage support from all sources, primarily from senior management since it is the catalyst that activates support from other sources.
Comprehension of the statistical and structural mechanisms governing human dynamics in online interaction plays a pivotal role in online user identification, online profile development, and recommender systems. However, building a characteristic model of human dynamics on the Internet involves a complete analysis of the variations in human activity patterns, which is a complex process. This complexity is inherent in human dynamics and has not been extensively studied to reveal the structural composition of human behavior. A typical method of anatomizing such a complex system is viewing all independent interconnectivity that constitutes the complexity. An examination of the various dimensions of human communication pattern in online interactions is presented in this paper. The study employed reliable server-side web data from 31 known users to explore characteristics of human-driven communications. Various machine-learning techniques were explored. The results revealed that each individual exhibited a relatively consistent, unique behavioral signature and that the logistic regression model and model tree can be used to accurately distinguish online users. These results are applicable to one-to-one online user identification processes, insider misuse investigation processes, and online profiling in various areas.
Camera attribution plays an important role in digital image forensics by providing the evidence and distinguishing characteristics of the origin of the digital image. It allows the forensic analyser to find the possible source camera which captured the image under investigation. However, in real-world applications, these approaches have faced many challenges due to the large set of multimedia data publicly available through photo sharing and social network sites, captured with uncontrolled conditions and undergone variety of hardware and software post-processing operations. Moreover, the legal system only accepts the forensic analysis of the digital image evidence if the applied camera attribution techniques are unbiased, reliable, nondestructive and widely accepted by the experts in the field. The aim of this paper is to investigate the evolutionary trend of image source camera attribution approaches from fundamental to practice, in particular, with the application of image processing and data mining techniques. Extracting implicit knowledge from images using intrinsic image artifacts for source camera attribution requires a structured image mining process. In this paper, we attempt to provide an introductory tutorial on the image processing pipeline, to determine the general classification of the features corresponding to different components for source camera attribution. The article also reviews techniques of the source camera attribution more comprehensively in the domain of the image forensics in conjunction with the presentation of classifying ongoing developments within the specified area. The classification of the existing source camera attribution approaches is presented based on the specific parameters, such as colour image processing pipeline, hardware- and software-related artifacts and the methods to extract such artifacts. The more recent source camera attribution approaches, which have not yet gained sufficient attention among image forensics researchers, are also critically analysed and further categorised into four different classes, namely, optical aberrations based, sensor camera fingerprints based, processing statistics based and processing regularities based, to present a classification. Furthermore, this paper aims to investigate the challenging problems, and the proposed strategies of such schemes based on the suggested taxonomy to plot an evolution of the source camera attribution approaches with respect to the subjective optimisation criteria over the last decade. The optimisation criteria were determined based on the strategies proposed to increase the detection accuracy, robustness and computational efficiency of source camera brand, model or device attribution.
Aim: To evaluate the psychometric performance of the Malay version of the Medical Outcome Study (MOS) Social Support Survey among a sample of postpartum Malay women in Kedah, North West of Peninsular Malaysia.
Materials and methods: 354 women between 4 to 12 weeks postpartum were recruited for the validation study. They were given questionnaires on socio-demography, the Malay versions of the MOS Social Support Survey, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the 21-items Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). 30 of the participants, who were bilingual, were also given the original English version of the instrument. A week later, these women were again asked to complete the Malay version of MOS Social Support Survey.
Results: The median number for item 1 (the single item measure of structural support) was 3 (inter-quartile range = 2 - 4). Extraction method of the remaining 19 items (item 2 to item 20) using principle component analyses with direct oblimin rotation converged into 3 dimensions of functional social support (informational support, affectionate support / positive social interaction and instrumental support) with reliability coefficients of 0.93, 0.74 and 0.72 respectively. Overall the scale displayed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.93), parallel form reliability (0.98) and test-retest reliability (0.97) (Spearman's rho; p<0.01). Its validity was confirmed by the negative correlations between the overall support index (total social support score) and all the three dimensions of functional support with the Malay versions of EPDS and BDI-II. The overall support index also displayed low but significant correlations with the single measure structural social support in the instrument (Spearman's rho = 0.14; p <0.01).
Conclusions: The MOS Social Support Survey demonstrated good psychometric properties in measuring social support among postpartum Malay women in Kedah, North West of Peninsular Malaysia and could potentially be used as a simple instrument in primary care settings.
The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies has already been influential in many industries, and Web 2.0 applications are now beginning to have an impact on health care. These new technologies offer a promising approach for shaping the future of modern health care, with the potential for opening up new opportunities for the health care industry as it struggles to deal with challenges including the need to cut costs, the increasing demand for health services and the increasing cost of medical technology. Social media such as social networking sites are attracting more individuals to online health communities, contributing to an increase in the productivity of modern health care and reducing transaction costs. This study therefore examines the potential effect of social technologies, particularly social media, on health care development by adopting a social support/transaction cost perspective. Viewed through the lens of Information Systems, social support and transaction cost theories indicate that social media, particularly online health communities, positively support health care development. The results show that individuals join online health communities to share and receive social support, and these social interactions provide both informational and emotional support.
Objective: This case report highlights on the challenges in the management of people with bipolar disorder. Method: We report a case of 36 year-old lady living with this disorder and her journey in a search for a meaningful life. Result: Adherence to treatment is a major determinant of outcome in bipolar patient like Ms WMY. Poor insight, negative attitudes towards treatment and poor understanding of medications and the illness can all lead to reduced adherence. Conclusion: This case demonstrates on how poverty of insight, poor social support, on-going stressors with significant life events and poor compliance to treatment create a series of stumbling blocks in recovery from bipolar disorder.
A total of 200 university students were surveyed to ascertain if gender, personality traits and social support were associated with self-esteem. There were equal numbers of males and females in the study, with controls for living and education status. The results showed that gender was not significantly associated with self-esteem. Whilst all the personality and social support factors were found to be associated with levels of self-esteem, only extraversion, openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, emotional stability and total amount of social support were found to predict self-esteem. Recommendations are made for early identification and interventions for populations at risk of low self-esteem based on the findings of the study.
Objective: This study examined the symptoms of PTSD among survivors of the December 26th 2004 Malaysian tsunami disaster, as well as differences among sexes in terms of coping styles and availability of social support. Methods: A total of 64 (28 males and 36 females) respondents from several affected districts of Kuala Muda and Langkawi in Kedah and Batu Maung, Pulau Pinang were recruited through purposive sampling. The Detailed Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress (DAPS) was used to measure the posttraumatic stress disorder/symptoms, while the Social Support Questionnaire and Significant Others Scale (Form A) were used to measure the quality and quantity of social support. The COPE Questionnaire was used to measure two coping styles; adaptive and maladaptive coping. Results: Fifty two (81%) respondents did not fulfill the DAPS-PTSD criteria while only 12 (19%) fulfilled the criteria. There was no significant difference between men and women in terms of posttraumatic stresstotal, and the quantity and quality of social support. However, there is a significant difference in adaptive and maladaptive coping styles among victims who fulfill the PTSD diagnosis and those who did not. It was also found that there is no relationship between PTSD symptoms and emotional support, whereas there is a significant
relationship between PTSD symptoms and practical support. Conclusion: This research showed that only a small number of respondents fulfilled the diagnosis of PTSD following their experience of a disaster. There were no difference between genders in terms of PTSD symptoms and social support. Among victims who fulfill the PTSD diagnosis and those who do not, there is a significant difference in the adaptive and maladaptive coping styles. As for the relationship between PTSD symptoms and social support, there is a significant
relationship between PTSD symptoms and practical support but not with emotional support.
Background: The transition from high school to a university is a significant milestone in every student’s life. Stress experienced by students can have a detrimental effect on their academic performance. Social support has generally been found to promote psychological well-being, as well as to buffer the effects of stress. Method: The study was conducted in one of the Universities in Malaysia. The study questionnaire was designed to include questions regarding socio-demographic aspects and stress of the students; in addition, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support scale (MSPSS) that was developed by Zimet was administered. The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between Perceived Social Support, Stress and Gender differences among University Students. Results: In this study only a small group of the students scored very low on the Perceived social support scale. A low significant inverse correlation was found between MSPSS and stress. Male students’ experienced greater stress than female students’. Female students had a better perception of social support from their families compared to male students. Conclusion: The fact that, as the level of social support increase the level of stress decrease clearly shows that social support acts as a buffer to stress.