MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among doctors and pharmacists in Hospital Sultanah Nora Ismail, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia. Questionnaires were used in this study.
RESULTS: A total of 384 participants completed the questionnaires. The participants consisted of 323 doctors (84.1%) and 61 pharmacists (15.9%). The age group of the participants ranged between 25 till 55 years old. Ninety doctors (27.9%) and thirty-one pharmacists (51.0%) reported used sunscreen daily (p<0.001). This finding showed that there was a deficit in the practice of sun protection. Pharmacists scored a higher knowledge score of median 12 (IQR=3.0) while the doctors scored 11 (IQR=2.0). This study showed a significant association between ethnicity and skin cancer knowledge (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a lack of knowledge of sunscreen and skin cancer prevention among health care practitioners. This finding supports better medical education program on this topic.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to October 2018 among 479 adolescents aged 17-19 years old from seven institutions of higher learning in Kuantan. Body weight status was described as body mass index (BMI). Weight and height were measured, and BMI was calculated. Validated, self-administered Figure Rating Scale (FRS) questionnaires were used. Agreement between BMI and body weight perception was calculated using Kappa statistics. Logistic regression was employed to examine the association between body weight perception and sociodemographic variables.
RESULTS: More than one-third (35.3%) of the respondents misjudged their own body weight. More than one third of the respondents (38.7%) who were underweight, misperceived themselves as having normal weight whilst 31.7% of obese respondents identified themselves as overweight. The agreement between body weight perception and body mass index was moderate (k0.46, p<0.01).
CONCLUSION: Body weight perception was in moderate agreement with actual weight in late adolescents. Accurate body weight perception is an important factor in late adolescent's weight management behaviour. Hence, health education related to body weight management should be emphasized among this age group.
METHODS: This study included children who had LAIE (with angle of 40 prism dioptres or greater), aged 5 and 17 years who had attended the Ophthalmology Clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia from March to September 2016. The children and their parents or guardians were interviewed face-to-face using a validated semi-structured interview guide. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis was performed using the NVivo 12 software.
RESULTS: A total of 30 children and 30 parents were interviewed. The most common problems identified by the children were social interactions (73.3%, 22 children), visual functions (60.0%, 18 children), emotions (60.0%, 18 children), physical issues (40.0%, 12 children) and difficulties regarding treatment options (26.7%, eight children). The parents reported that their children were more affected in terms of visual functions (100.0%, 30 parents), social interactions (56.7%, 17 parents), emotions (43.3%, 13 parents), physical issues (20.0%, six parents), and difficulties regarding treatment options (16.7%, five parents).
CONCLUSION: The major problems that the children with LAIE identified were social interactions, while the parents observed that problems with visual functions was the most common issue encountered by their children. This suggests that the children affected have different perspectives from their parents and require support.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among parents of children below 5 years of age, from July to September 2022 at two urban primary care clinics in the Cheras district of Kuala Lumpur. Hesitance and perception of the COVID-19 vaccine were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire.
RESULTS: A total of 219 completed entries were analysed. The rate of COVID-19 vaccine hesitance for children below the age of 5 was 64.4% (n=141). Univariate analysis showed that vaccine hesitancy was associated with parental age and Muslim religion. The multivariate model showed that younger parents were more likely to be vaccine hesitant compared to older parents. A 1-year increase in parental age showed a 13% decrease in the odds of vaccine hesitancy (AOR 0.87, 95% CI 0.80-0.96). Muslim parents were also more likely to be vaccine hesitant compared to non-Muslim parents (AOR 2.46, 95% CI 1.26-4.79). Most parents perceived correctly that the vaccine can prevent complications and the spread of the disease. However, their main barriers to vaccination were concerns regarding side effects, safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
CONCLUSION: Our study found that parents have a high rate of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for children younger than 5 years of age. Vaccine hesitancy was associated with parents' age and religion. Most of them perceived that the vaccine could prevent complications and the spread of COVID-19. Their main barriers towards vaccination were regarding vaccine side effects, safety and effectiveness.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This qualitative study involved five public healthcare clinics in the Kuching district with indepth interviews (IDI) conducted on 14 primary care doctors (PCDs). Semi-structured interviews and in-depth discussions were conducted via videoconferencing. One representative was selected from each clinic at initiation, followed by snowball method for subsequent subject selection until saturation of themes. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and analysis based on framework analysis principles via NVivo software. Themes were analysed deductively according to study objectives and evidence from literature.
RESULTS: Three main themes emerged from the IDI: (1) The perception of depression in elderly patients, (2) The perceived barriers to screening, and (3) The screening processes. Majority of the PCDs perceived depression as part of ageing process. Time constraints, lack of privacy in consultation rooms, dominant caregivers and failure to recognise recurrent somatic symptoms as part of depression influenced PCDs decision to screen. Screening was technically challenging for PCDs to use the DASS-21, which was not socio-culturally validated for local native population. Only 21.4% of respondents (3/14) reported screening at least three out 10 elderly patients seen over 1- month period. During the covid pandemic, due to the same human resource support and practices, most participants thought their screening for depression in elderlies had not changed.
CONCLUSION: Awareness of depression among PCDs needs to be re-enforced via continuous medical education programs to use appropriate screening tools, address infrastructure related barriers to optimise screening practices. The use of appropriate locally validated and socio-culturally adapted tool is vital to correctly interpret the screening test for patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among parents of 145 children in the year 2020. Participants were selected using multistage randomisation technique from 10 of the 75 registered government kindergartens in Kota Setar District, Kedah. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Analysis was done using descriptive statistics and the association between parent's demographic characteristics and the overall perception of digital media use by their preschool children was tested using Chi-square test.
RESULTS: A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed, and 145 were returned (96.7% response rate) out of which 139 were complete. We found that parent's overall perception of their preschool children using digital devices was mixed, where about one-third of them perceived that digital device use was a risk, one-third perceived it as beneficial while onethird were unsure. The common perception of risk was that digital devices impaired children's physical (71.9-90.6%) and intellectual domains (71.9-86.3%) especially causing damage to eyesight (90.6%), causing addiction (86.3%) and exposed to radiation (81.3%). The perceived benefits of using digital device were mainly in the social domain, promoting technology awareness (64.8%), easily accessible and portable (63.3%) and entertaining (64.0%). They also perceived that digital devices promoted creative and interactive learning (62.6%). Parent's overall perception of digital media use was associated with their employment status (p=0.028).
CONCLUSION: Parent's overall perception regarding digital device use among their preschool children was mixed. They perceived that digital devices commonly cause risk to the physical and intellectual aspects of their children while there are some benefits to the social aspects. There is an association between parent's overall perception and employment status.
Methods: This cross-sectional study uses a pre-validated, self-administered questionnaire, which has been administered to 200 residents in Jitra, Kedah, Malaysia. Descriptive and inferential statistics have been used to analyse the data.
Results: Females formed 64.0% of the participants, with Malay being the dominant ethnic group (n = 167, 83.5%); 77.5% of the participants reported they were aware of the role of pharmacists in the healthcare system. However, 35.0% of the participants reported having never heard the term 'dispensing separation' in any mainstream media in Malaysia, whereas 73.5% of the participants reported that a pharmacist was more reliable than a physician in providing medicines once the diagnosis had been made and 77.5% of them acknowledged that pharmacists were experts in the field of medication. There was a significant association between the participant's awareness and the agreement on perceptions toward the implementation of the DS (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Awareness of the implementation of DS among residents in Jitra is still low. However, there is strong evidence of public support and the benefits of DS in Malaysia.