Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from October to December 2019 among 178 hospital workers at the Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The study utilized a self-administered questionnaire that consisted of items on sociodemographics, work characteristics, sources of bullying, and the validated Malay version of the 23-item Negative Acts Questionnaire - revised to determine the prevalence of bullying. Descriptive and inferential statistics were analyzed using SPSS 22.0. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05.
Results: The prevalence of workplace bullying in this sample was 11.2%. Superiors or supervisors from other departments and colleagues were the main perpetrators. In the multivariate model, working for 10 years or less (aOR 4, 95% CI 1.3-12.3; P=0.014) and not being involved in patient care (aOR 5, 95% CI 2.5-10; P<0.001) were statistically significant attributes associated with workplace bullying.
Conclusion: Workplace bullying in the current study was strongly associated with occupational characteristics, particularly length of service and service orientation of the workers. Hospital directors and managers could undertake preventive measures to identify groups vulnerable to bullying and subsequently craft appropriate coping strategies and mentoring programs to curb bullying.
Methods: A double-blinded randomised control trial involving 200 participants between the ages of 20 to 65 years old breast cancer patients was performed. Apart from those who refused participation, patients with chronic diseases and extreme baseline depression scores were also excluded. The control group received standard care twice a week from the social welfare services team facilitator compared to the intervention group that received additional psycho-education intervention programme (PEIP). The coping strategies were measured using the Brief-COPE inventory consisting of 28 items. It was administered on the second and 12th week of trial. The primary end point was compared between pre- and post-intervention. The effect of the intervention between groups, time, and covariates was measured using the generalised linear mixed model (GLMM) analysis.
Results: The mean (SD) of adaptive coping score among the intervention group increased from 5.63 (1.3) at baseline to 6.42 (1.3) at post-intervention. The mean avoidant coping score was 3.87 (1.1) at baseline but reduced to 3.69 (0.8) post-intervention. GLMM showed that women who received the intervention reported significantly higher usage of the adaptive coping strategies after attending the programme (B=0.921, p <0.001).
Conclusion: PEIP significantly improved knowledge of breast cancer patients. Thus, this programme may be considered as a part of the healthcare services in Jordan towards improving the adaptive coping strategies among breast cancer patients, which may point towards the potential for these services to increase adaptive coping strategies among patients in Jordan.
Implications for Public Health: PEIP may be considered as psychosocial intervention in public health and healthcare setting to address rising concerns on quality of care among breast cancer patients.
Methods: A qualitative study was conducted among 33 women attending Maternal and Child Health (MCH) clinics in Kuala Lumpur. Data were obtained through a face-to-face semi-structured interview and analysed using framework analysis.
Results: The women considered PND as a personal and temporary issue. Therefore, professional care was deemed unnecessary for them. Additionally, all Malay women considered religious approach as their primary coping strategy for PND. However, this was not the case for most Indian and Chinese women.
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that women did not acknowledge the roles of Healthcare Practitioners (HCPs) in alleviating their emotional distress.Also, they perceived PND as a personal problem and less serious emotional condition. It is due to this perception that the women adopted self-help care as their primary coping strategy for PND. However, the coping strategy varied between different cultures. These findings underscore the importance of HCPs' proactive action to detect and alleviate PND symptoms as their attitude towards PND may influence Women's help-seeking behaviour.
METHODOLOGY: All the subjects who met the inclusion criteria were recruited for this comparative cross-sectional study, which was conducted from May to July 2020 in two hospitals in Kelantan, Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire, namely, the Malay-version Vicarious Traumatization Questionnaire and the Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey were utilized. A descriptive analysis, independent t-test, and analysis of covariance were performed using SPSS Statistics version 26.
RESULTS: A total of 160 frontline and 146 non-frontline healthcare providers were recruited. Vicarious traumatization was significantly higher among the non-frontline healthcare providers (estimated marginal mean [95% CI]: 79.7 [75.12, 84.30]) compared to the frontline healthcare providers (estimated marginal mean [95% CI]: 74.3 [68.26, 80.37]) after adjusting for sex, duration of employment, and social support.
CONCLUSION: The level of vicarious traumatization was higher among non-frontline compared to frontline healthcare providers. However, the level of severity may differ from person to person, depending on how they handle their physical, psychological, and mental health. Hence, support from various resources, such as colleagues, family, the general public, and the government, may play an essential role in the mental health of healthcare providers.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted as a sub-analysis of the ongoing "WE-RISE" randomized controlled trial. This study included 42 community-dwelling older adults, aged 60 years and above, with cognitive frailty, stratified into intervention (n=21) and control (n=21) groups who are receiving a multi-domain intervention and usual care, respectively, within the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Phone call interviews were conducted during the MCO period. Physical activity patterns were assessed using International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ). Psychological wellbeing was assessed using Flourishing Scale (FS) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), while the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) assessed coping strategies. Data were analysed descriptively and with independent samples t-test.
RESULTS: The WE-RISE intervention group had significantly higher levels of estimated resting energy expenditure (MET) for "walking activity" (I:μ=1723.1±780.7;C:μ=537.4±581.9)(p<0.001), "moderate activity" (I:μ=1422.8±1215.1;C:μ=405.7±746.9)(p=0.002) and "total physical activity" (I: μ=3625.9±3399.3;C:μ=994.6±1193.9)(p=0.002). The intervention group was also significantly more independent in functional activities (μ=1.76±1.73) as compared to the control group (μ=5.57±8.31) (p<0.05). Moreover, significant higher self-perception of living a meaningful life and feeling respected (p<0.05) was demonstrated in regard to psychological well-being in the intervention group. Regarding coping strategies, the intervention group relied significantly on the domains of religion (I:μ=6.43±0.99;C:μ=6.09±1.09)(p<0.05) and planning (I:μ=4.81±0.75; C:μ=4.04±1.28)(p<0.05) whilst the control group relied on humour (C:μ=3.14±1.19; I:μ=2.38±0.74)(p<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Participants of the WE-RISE intervention group were more physically active, functionally independent and had higher self-perceived social-psychological prosperity regarding living a meaningful life and feeling respected; whilst both groups relied on positive coping strategies during the MCO. These results indicate that it is vital to ensure older persons with cognitive frailty remain physically active and preserve their psychosocial wellbeing to be more resilient in preventing further decline during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study involving IC attending a PCU. Caregiver burden and psychological manifestations were measured using previously translated and validated Zarit Burden Interview and DASS-21 questionnaires respectively. Two hundred forty-nine samples were selected for analysis.
RESULT: The mean ZBI score was 23.33 ± 13.7. About half of the population 118(47.4%) was found to experienced caregiver burden whereby majority have mild to moderate burden 90(36.1%). The most common psychological manifestation among IC is anxiety 74(29.7%) followed by depression 51(20.4%) and stress 46(18.5%). Multiple logistic regression demonstrated that women who are IC to patients with non-malignancy were less likely to experience caregiver burden. IC who were highly educated and spent more than 14 h per day caregiving were at least twice likely to experience caregiver burden. Finally, those with symptoms of depression and anxiety were three times more likely to suffer from caregiver burden.
CONCLUSION: Caregiver burden among IC to palliative patients is prevalent in this population. IC who are men, educated, caregiving for patients with malignancy, long hours of caregiving and have symptoms of depression and anxiety are at risk of developing caregiver burden. Targeted screening should be implemented and IC well-being should be given more emphasis in local policies.
APPROACH: Based on the principles of social learning, we combined speed mentoring and world café formats to offer a virtual Zoom™ workshop, with large and small group discussions, to reach health professions' educators across the globe. The goal was to establish a psychologically safe space for dialogue regarding adaptation to online teaching-learning formats.
EVALUATION: We aimed to establish psychological safety to stimulate thought-provoking discussions within the various small groups and obtain valuable contributions from participants. From these conversations, we were able to formulate 'hot tips' on how to adapt to (sometimes new) online teaching-learning formats while nurturing teacher and student wellbeing.
REFLECTION: Through this virtual workshop we realized that despite contextual differences, many challenges are common worldwide. We experienced technological difficulties during the session, which needed rapid adaptation by the organising team. We encouraged, but did not pressure, participants to use video and audio during breakout discussions as we wanted them to feel safe and comfortable. The large audience size and different time zones were challenging; therefore, leadership had to be resilient and focussed. Although this virtual format was triggered by the pandemic, the format can be continued in the future to discuss other relevant global education topics.
METHOD: A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. We used F and χ2 tests and correlation analyses to report descriptive statistics. Multi-group path models with (i) a zero-inflated Poisson distribution and, (ii) a Binomial distribution were used to model the number of occurrences of suicidal ideation, and occurrence of a suicide attempt, respectively.
RESULTS: Religiosity was negatively associated with acceptability of suicide, but it was positively related to punishment after death across the 11 countries. Religiosity was negatively associated with ever experiencing suicidal ideation, both directly and indirectly through its association with attitudes towards suicide, especially the belief in acceptability of suicide. Neither positive nor negative religious coping were related to suicidal ideation. However, religiosity was negatively related to suicide attempts among those who experienced suicidal ideation at least once. This association was mediated through the belief in acceptability of suicide and religious coping. Negative religious coping was positively associated with suicide attempts probably because it weakened the protective effects of religiosity.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study suggest that the effects of religiosity in the suicidal process operate through attitudes towards suicide. We therefore conclude that clinical assessment as well as research in suicidology may benefit from paying due attention to attitudes towards suicide.
DESIGN: A double-blind, cluster-randomized approach was used as a randomization method for this study to evaluate the stress management interventional program.
METHODS: A cluster-randomized controlled trial was carried out in eight comprehensive healthcare centres in Amman city, Jordan; four centres were randomly assigned to each experimental and control group. One hundred and seventy nurses were selected randomly from March 2019 - August 2019 and data were collected by using the Nursing Stress Scale & brief COPE over three data collection times. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (repeated measure ANOVA, Independent t test, and chi-squared) were used to answer the research questions of this study.
RESULTS: The results showed that both the levels of occupational stress and coping strategies were significantly different between the two study groups over the three data collection points (p
METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 340 caregivers of chronic kidney patients undergoing hemodialysis. The setting was in Terengganu, Malaysia. The caregivers completed the measures of caregiving burden, quality of life, social support, and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
RESULTS: About 28.8% and 52.4% of caregivers showed clinically moderate levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively. Furthermore, 35.9% and 3.8% of them showed clinically high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively. Analyses showed that general quality of life was a significant predictor of both anxiety and depressive symptoms. Burden and psychological domains of quality of life significantly predicted anxiety. In addition, a lack of social support was a determinant of depressive symptoms. Evidence suggested that social support moderated the burden-anxiety relationship. Specifically, caregivers with low levels of social support showed more elevated levels of anxiety symptoms when their burden was higher.
CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need for early detection to initiate prompt treatment in this population. The study provides some important insights into offering comprehensive intervention to help caregivers cope more effectively through the provision of sufficient social support to buffer the effects of caregiving burden and improve mental health.