METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 1150, 5-6 year-old preschool children in Selangor, Malaysia. Mothers answered a questionnaire on socio-economic status, the Malay-Modified Dental Anxiety Scale to assess maternal dental anxiety, and the Malay-Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale to assess COHRQoL. Child's dental anxiety was assessed using the Malay-Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale via a face-to-face interview prior to oral examination to assess dental caries. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling to assess the relationship between maternal and child dental anxiety and COHRQoL.
RESULTS: Overall, complete data on 842 mother-child dyads were analysed. The mean scores of total ECOHIS, the child impacts section (CIS), and the family impacts section (FIS) were 17.7 (SD = 4.9), 12.6 (SD = 3.7), and 5.1 (SD = 1.9), respectively. The mean dental anxiety scores for mothers and children were 11.8 (SD = 4.5) and 16.9 (SD = 4.3), respectively. Maternal dental anxiety was associated with the CIS (b = 0.08, p
METHOD: This is a cross-sectional, survey-based study in which participants responded to questionnairesregarding perceived burden (ZBI), quality of life (IEQoL), psychological distress (DASS-21), family functioning (FAD) and perceived social support (MSPSS). Additional measures include socio-demographics and clinical characteristics of the care-recipient.
RESULTS: A total of 111 caregivers participated, of whom 72.1% were females, 55% parents, 59.5% Chinese, 51.4% unemployed and 46.0% with tertiary education.Approximately half (42.3%) reported mild-to-moderate levels of burden (mean ZBI score 29.93, SD 16.09).Furthermore, multiple regression analysisidentified10 predictors of caregiver burden, namely family functioning, weekly caregiving hours, number of caregivers per family, attitude towards epilepsy, family support, caregivers' gender, personal income and as well as care-recipients' age of onset, seizure frequency and ADL dependency (F(10, 85) = 11.37, p
BACKGROUND: Previous literature showed that mindfulness-based training is useful for helping nurses cope with stress.
METHOD: Nurses who have mild to moderate levels of stress, anxiety and depression identified from a teaching hospital were invited to a randomized control trial. The intervention group had a 2-hr Mindfulness-Based Training workshop, followed by 4 weeks of guided self-practice Mindfulness-Based Training website. Both the intervention group (n = 118) and the control group (n = 106) were evaluated pre- and post-intervention, and 8 weeks later (follow-up) using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21, Job Satisfaction Scale and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale.
RESULTS: There was a significant effect over time on stress, anxiety, depression and mindfulness level (p
METHODS: Through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Costs in Oncology study, 1490 newly diagnosed cancer patients were followed-up in Malaysia for 1 year. Health-related quality of life was assessed by using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and EuroQol-5 (EQ-5D) dimension questionnaires at baseline, 3 and 12 months. Psychological distress was assessed by using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Data were modeled by using general linear and logistic regressions analyses.
RESULTS: One year after diagnosis, the mean EORTC QLQ-C30 Global Health score of the cancer survivors remained low at 53.0 over 100 (SD 21.4). Fifty-four percent of survivors reported at least moderate levels of anxiety, while 27% had at least moderate levels of depression. Late stage at diagnosis was the strongest predictor of low HRQoL. Increasing age, being married, high-income status, hospital type, presence of comorbidities, and chemotherapy administration were also associated with worse HRQoL. The significant predictors of psychological distress were cancer stage and hospital type.
CONCLUSION: Cancer survivors in this middle-income setting have persistently impaired HRQoL and high levels of psychological distress. Development of a holistic cancer survivorship program addressing wider aspects of well-being is urgently needed in our settings.
METHOD: A single-blind randomized controlled trial was carried out among 162 oncology patients undergoing chemotherapy from July 2013 to February 2014 in a government hospital with oncology facilities in Malaysia. Participants were randomized to either the intervention group or the control group. Chemotherapy counseling using the module on 'Managing Patients on Chemotherapy' by Pharmacists was delivered to the intervention group. The outcome measures were assessed at baseline, first follow-up and second follow-up and third follow-up post-intervention. Chi-square, independent samples t-test and two-way repeated measures ANOVA were conducted in the course of the data analyses.
RESULTS: In assessing the impact of the chemotherapy counseling module, the study revealed that the module along with repetitive counseling showed significant improvement of quality of life in the intervention group as compared to the control group with a large effect size in physical health (p = 0.001, partial Ƞ2 = 0.66), psychological (p = 0.001, partial Ƞ2 = 0.65), social relationships (p = 0.001, partial Ƞ2 = 0.30), and environment (p = 0.001, partial Ƞ2 = 0.67) and decrease in the anxiety (p = 0.000; partial Ƞ2 = 0.23), depression (p = 0.000; partial Ƞ2 = 0.40).
CONCLUSION: The module on 'Managing Patients on Chemotherapy' along with repetitive counseling by pharmacists has been shown to be effective in improving quality of life and decreasing anxiety and depression among oncology patients undergoing chemotherapy.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: National Medical Research Register (NMRR) of Malaysia and given a registration number NMRR-12-1057-12,363 on 21 December 2012.
OBJECTIVE: This study was sought to assess the level of cognitive functions and linked with blood oxidative status during normal aging in rats.
METHODS: A longitudinal study using male Sprague Dawley rats was performed starting from the age of 14 months old to 27 months old. Cognitive functions tests such as open field, Morris water maze and object recognition were determined at the age of 14, 18, 23, and 27 months old and were compared with group 3 months old. Blood was collected from the orbital venous sinus and oxidative status was determined by measuring the level of DNA damage, lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation and antioxidant enzymes activity.
RESULTS: Aged rats showed declining exploratory behavior and increased in the level of anxiety as compared to the young rats. The level of DNA damage increased with increasing age. Interestingly, our study found that both levels of malondialdehyde and plasma carbonyl content decreased with age. In addition, the level of superoxide dismutase activity was significantly decreased with age whereas catalase activity was significantly increased from 18 months of age. However, no significant difference was found in glutathione peroxidase activity among all age groups.
CONCLUSION: The progressions of cognitive impairment in normal aging rats are linked to the increment in the level of DNA damage.
DESIGN AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional survey. Data were collected on 162 parents of children diagnosed with thalassemia aged 12 years and younger in thalassemia day care centers of three public hospitals in Sabah, Malaysia. Data were collected using questionnaires, including General Health Questionaire-12 (GHQ-12), Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) and Brief RCOPE.
RESULTS: Forty-two percent of parents had psychological distress with GHQ score ≥ 3 (mean score of 2.85 ± 3.17). Ninety-five percent of parents used positive religious coping methods (mean P-COPE score 22.35 ± 2.33) more than negative religious coping methods (mean N-COPE score was 12.19 ± 5.23). They used Organized Religious Activities (mean ORA score of 4.20 ± 1.27), and Non-Organized Religious Activities (NORA, the mean was 4.17 ± 1.37). Positive and negative religious coping methods were significantly related to parents' psychological distress (P-COPE and GHQ-12 scores (rs (df) = 0.19, p