MyMedR

Displaying publications 61 - 64 of 64 in total

Abstract:

Sort:

Medical services to the aborigines in West Malaysia

Bolton JM

Br Med J, 1968 Jun 29;2(5608):818-23.
PMID: 5658921
Matched MeSH terms: Community Health Services
Fulltext Exploration of risk taking behaviors and perceived susceptibility of colorectal cancer among Malaysian adults: a community based cross-sectional study

Al-Dubai SA, Ganasegeran K, Alabsi AM, Shah SA, Razali FM, Arokiasamy JT

BMC Public Health, 2013 Oct 07;13:930.
PMID: 24093502 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-930

BACKGROUND: Perceived susceptibility to an illness has been shown to affect Health-risk behavior. The objective of the present study was to determine the risk taking behaviors and the demographic predictors of perceived susceptibility to colorectal cancer in a population-based sample.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 305 Malaysian adults in six major districts, selected from urban, semi-urban, and rural settings in one state in Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire was used in this study. It was comprised of socio-demographics, risk-taking behaviors, and validated domains of the Health Belief Model (HBM).
RESULTS: The mean (± SD) age of the respondents was 34.5 (± 9.6) and the majority (59.0%) of them were 30 years or older. Almost 20.7% of the respondents felt they were susceptible to colorectal cancer. Self-reported perceived susceptibility mirrored unsatisfactory screening behaviors owing to the lack of doctors' recommendation, ignorance of screening modalities, procrastination, and the perception that screening was unnecessary. Factors significantly associated with perceived susceptibility to colorectal cancer were gender (OR = 1.8, 95% CI 1.0-3.3), age (OR = 2. 2, 95% CI 1.2-4.0), ethnicity (OR = 0. 3, 95% CI 0.2-0.6), family history of colorectal cancer (OR = 3. 2, 95% CI 1.4-7.4) and alcohol intake (OR = 3.9, 95% CI 2.1-7.5).
CONCLUSION: The present study revealed that screening behavior among respondents was unsatisfactory. Hence, awareness of the importance of screening to prevent colorectal cancers is imperative.

Matched MeSH terms: Community Health Services
Fulltext Pre-pregnancy community-based intervention for couples in Malaysia: application of intervention mapping

Norris SA, Ho JC, Rashed AA, Vinding V, Skau JK, Biesma R, et al.

BMC Public Health, 2016 11 17;16(1):1167.
PMID: 27855663

BACKGROUND: Malaysia is experiencing a nutrition transition with burgeoning obesity, particularly in women, and a growing prevalence of non-communicable disease. These health burdens have severe implications not only for adult health but also across generations. Pre-conception health promotion could address the intergenerational risk of metabolic disease. This paper describes the development of the "Jom Mama" intervention using Intervention Mapping (IM). The Jom Mama intervention aims to improve the health of young adult couples in Malaysia prior to conception.

METHODS: IM comprises of five steps prior to the last one, which involves the evaluation of the intervention. We used the five steps to develop the Jom Mama intervention.

RESULTS: Both the process and evidence is documented providing the rationale to the selection of the key objectives of the intervention: (i) increasing healthy dietary practice; (ii) increasing physical activity levels, (iii) reducing sedentary activity; and (iv) improving social support to offset stressful lifestyles. From the IM process, Jom Mama will be health-system centred approach that uniquely combines both community health promoters and an electronic-health platform to deliver the complex intervention.

CONCLUSION: IM is an iterative process that systematically gathers "best" evidence, selects appropriate theories of behaviour change, and facilitates formative research so as to develop a complex intervention. Though the IM process is time consuming, complex, and costly, it has enriched the Jom Mama intervention with a number of notable advantages: (i) intervention fashioned on formative work with stakeholders and in the target group; (ii) intervention combines research evidence with theory; (iii) intervention acknowledges multiple dynamics of influence; and (iv) intervention is embedded within health service priorities in Malaysia for greater scale-up possibility.

Matched MeSH terms: Community Health Services
Fulltext Antihypertensive drugs for elderly patients: a cross- sectional study

Lim KK, Sivasampu S, Khoo EM

Singapore Med J, 2015 May;56(5):291-7.
PMID: 25597751 DOI: 10.11622/smedj.2015019

As the population ages, the prevalence of hypertension also increases. Although primary care is usually the patient's first point of contact for healthcare, little is known about the management of hypertension among elderly patients at the primary care level. This study aimed to determine the antihypertensive prescription trend for elderly patients, the predictors of antihypertensive use and any inappropriate prescribing practices in both public and private primary care settings.

Matched MeSH terms: Community Health Services