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Fulltext Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Highly-Crumpled, Few-Layered Graphene and Nitrogen-Doped Graphene for Use as High-Performance Electrodes in Capacitive Deionization

Amiri A, Ahmadi G, Shanbedi M, Savari M, Kazi SN, Chew BT

Sci Rep, 2015;5:17503.
PMID: 26643279 DOI: 10.1038/srep17503

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a promising procedure for removing various charged ionic species from brackish water. The performance of graphene-based material in capacitive deionization is lower than the expectation of the industry, so highly-crumpled, few-layered graphene (HCG) and highly-crumpled nitrogen-doped graphene (HCNDG) with high surface area have been introduced as promising candidates for CDI electrodes. Thus, HCG and HCNDG were prepared by exfoliation of graphite in the presence of liquid-phase, microwave-assisted methods. An industrially-scalable, cost-effective, and simple approach was employed to synthesize HCG and HCNDG, resulting in few-layered graphene and nitrogen-doped graphene with large specific surface area. Then, HCG and HCNDG were utilized for manufacturing a new class of carbon nanostructure-based electrodes for use in large-scale CDI equipment. The electrosorption results indicated that both the HCG and HCNDG have fairly large specific surface areas, indicating their huge potential for capacitive deionization applications.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext The lack of effective hand washing practice despite high level of knowledge and awareness in medical students of clinical years

S. Sulaiha S.A., Wee, Yun Ling, Lie, Joo Chin, Eow, Wei-Liang, Muhamad Faiz, S., Chien, Noris Fook Tan

International e-Journal of Science, Medicine & Education, 2010;4(2):-.
MyJurnal

Background: Nosocomial infection is among the leading problem in many major hospitals resulting in soaring cost expenditure in managing its affect.Hand washing practice is a crucial preventive way to contain such mischief but many ignored its importance. This is perhaps due to lack of appropriate role modeling from senior practitioners.
Subjects and methods: Our study examined the prevalence of hand washing practice among medical students from year 3 to 5 and compared it to their knowledge and level of awareness on its importance in clinical practice. 142 students were randomly observed during their clinical work in the wards on this practice and questionnaires were later distributed to 268 students from all semesters on their knowledge on the technique and awareness on its importance.
Results: Out of 142, almost 80% washed their hands but only 41.6% performed effective hand washing. In contrary, 80 to 90% showed good level of knowledge and awareness as well as perception about its importance in clinical practice.
Conclusions: The contradictory findings between the actual practice of hand washing and knowledge as well as awareness suggest that enforcement on the practice is necessary. This requires motivation and cooperation from all health alliances and higher authority in the health system. Remedial measures are much needed in order to contain high incidence of nosocomial infection in our local practice.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext Sport Commitment among Malaysian Racquet Sports Athletes

Ling A, Teo EW, Chin NS

Malays J Med Sci, 2019 Jul;26(4):86-93.
PMID: 31496897 MyJurnal DOI: 10.21315/mjms2019.26.4.10

Background: The Sport Commitment Model is widely used to understand the motivation and commitment of athletes to continue playing sports. However, the factors influencing athletes' commitment to racquet sports have not received much research attention, especially in Malaysia.
Purpose: This study aims to use the Sport Commitment Questionnaire-2 (SCQ-2) to examine Malaysian athletes' commitment to racquet sports.
Methods: A total of 612 athletes (367 males/245 females, μ age= 30.32 ± 11.56) completed the SCQ-2, which measures seven factors and two dimensions of sport commitment.
Results: The results revealed that sport enjoyment was the main factor contributing to the athletes' commitment in all sports. Two-way ANOVA analyses showed significant differences in athletes' enthusiastic commitment [F(3,604) = 44.92, P = 0.00] and constrained commitment [F(3,604) = 15.32, P = 0.00] across four sports. There were also significant differences in both enthusiastic commitment [F(3,604) = 7.53, P = 0.00] and constraint commitment [F(3,604) = 18.82, P = 0.00] across age groups.
Conclusion: Enjoyment is the main factor in sport commitment. Tennis athletes possess the highest level of enthusiastic commitment across all the racquet sports. Moreover, male athletes showed higher levels of enthusiastic commitment than female athletes.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext Crowdsourcing for ideas: A review of motivational factors and challenges in open innovation communities

Ahmad, R., Virgiyanti, W., Mahmod, M., Habbal, A., Chit, S.C.

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2017;25(110):69-78.
MyJurnal

Crowdsourcing introduces new perspectives in innovation, allowing for new products and services to shift away from the traditional manufacture-centric model to a more user-centric one. In order for businesses to reap the benefits of open innovation, it is necessary to understand the factors that motivate ideators to contribute valuable ideas. Equally, there is an urgency to identify the challenges faced by ideators in crowdsourcing for open innovation to retain the participants of crowdsourcing communities. This paper presents a structured review to address the aforementioned issues. Our findings reveal that the intrinsic factors that drive participation in open innovation are related to the learning experience that results from sharing ideas. Extrinsic factors like social motivation are frequently mentioned in different studies. This study also highlights the need for organisations to develop strategies for interacting with their contributors in order to sustain their participation and idea contribution. In conclusion, this paper can serve as a guideline for practitioners to improve crowdsourcing platforms with the inclusion of important motivational features. It can also serve as reference for organisations for formulating policies to regulate idea contribution.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Motivation for nurses undertaking a post-registration qualification in Malaysia

Chiu LH

Int Nurs Rev, 2005 Mar;52(1):46-51.
PMID: 15725276

To present several key factors that motivated Malaysian registered nurses to undertake a post-registration degree through an Australian university. The overall research study, from which this paper is drawn, looked at the professional learning of Malaysian registered nurses and the subsequent impact on their careers.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation*
Fulltext Awareness, expectation and satisfaction towards ward pharmacy services among patients in medical wards: a multi-centre study in Perak, Malaysia

Ng CB, Chang CT, Ong SY, Mahmud M, Lee LC, Chew WY, et al.

BMC Health Serv Res, 2021 Oct 29;21(1):1175.
PMID: 34711230 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-021-07185-7

BACKGROUND: Patient's awareness and satisfaction towards ward pharmacy services may influence perception towards effectiveness and safety of drugs, affecting medication adherence and clinical outcome. Nevertheless, studies on local ward pharmacy services were lacking. This study evaluated awareness, expectation and satisfaction of ward pharmacy services among patients in medical wards and determined their association with demographic characteristics.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaire conducted in medical wards of fourteen Perak state public hospitals from September to October 2020. In-patients aged ≥18 years old were included. The validated questionnaire had four domains. The student's t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple linear regression were was employed to evaluate the association between patients' demographic characteristics with their awareness, expectation and satisfaction towards ward pharmacy services.
RESULTS: 467 patients agreed to participate (response rate = 83.8%) but only 441 were analysed. The mean age of the patients was 54.9 years. Majority was male (56.2%), Malay (77.3%), with secondary education (62.9%), rural resident (57.1%) and reported good medication adherence (61.6%). The mean awareness score was 49.6 out of 60. Patients were least aware about drug-drug interaction (3.85 ± 1.15) and proper storage of medications (3.98 ± 1.06). Elderly patients (β = - 2.82, P

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext Chemsex among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Singapore and the challenges ahead: A qualitative study

Tan RKJ, Wong CM, Chen MI, Chan YY, Bin Ibrahim MA, Lim OZ, et al.

Int J Drug Policy, 2018 11;61:31-37.
PMID: 30388567 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.10.002

BACKGROUND: Sexualised substance use, or 'chemsex' has been shown to be a major factor driving the syndemic of HIV/AIDS in communities of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) around the world. However, there is a paucity of research on chemsex among GBMSM in Singapore due to punitive drug laws and the criminalisation of sexual behaviour between men. This qualitative descriptive study is the first to explore perceptions towards, motivators to engaging in, and the barriers to addressing the harms associated with chemsex among GBMSM in Singapore.
METHODS: We conducted 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews with self-identifying GBMSM between the ages of 18-39 in Singapore following a purposive sampling strategy. Interview topics included participants' perceptions of drug use among GBMSM in Singapore, perceptions towards chemsex, reasons for drug use and chemsex, and recommendations to address the harms associated with chemsex in Singapore. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analysed using thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Participants reported that it was common to encounter chemsex among GBMSM in Singapore as it could be easily accessed or initiated using social networking phone apps. Enhancement and prolongation of sexual experiences, fear of rejection from sexual partners and peers, and its use as a means of coping with societal rejection were three main reasons cited for engaging in chemsex. The impact of punitive drug laws on disclosure and stigmatisation of GBMSM who use drugs were reported to be key barriers towards addressing chemsex. Participants suggested using gay-specific commercial venues as avenues for awareness and educational campaigns, and social media to reach out to younger GBMSM.
CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the complexities behind chemsex use among GBMSM in Singapore, and the range of individual to institutional factors to be addressed. We recommend that community-based organisations and policy-makers find ways to destigmatise discussion of chemsex and provide safe spaces to seek help for drug use.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Gamification: Predicting the effectiveness of variety game design elements to intrinsically motivate users' energy conservation behaviour

Wee SC, Choong WW

J Environ Manage, 2019 Mar 01;233:97-106.
PMID: 30572268 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.11.127

This research predicted the effectiveness of variety game design elements in enhancing the intrinsic motivation of users on energy conservation behaviour prior to its actual implementation to ensure cost-effective. Face-to-face questionnaire surveys were conducted at the five recognized Malaysian research universities and obtained a total of 1500 valid survey data. The collected data was run with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis using SmartPLS 3 software. The results predicted the positive effect of gamification on intrinsically motivate the users based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The identified nine core game design elements were found to be useful in satisfying users' autonomy, competence and relatedness need satisfactions specified by SDT. This research is useful to guide the campaign organizer in designing a gamified design energy-saving campaign and provide understanding on the causal relationships between game design elements and users' intrinsic motivation to engage on energy conservation. A game-like campaign environment is believed to be created to users by implementing the game design elements in energy-saving campaign, and subsequently users' intrinsic motivation to engage on energy conservation behaviour can be enhanced.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation*
Fulltext Search for new physics in same-sign dilepton events in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text]

Khachatryan V, Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Asilar E, Bergauer T, et al.

Eur Phys J C Part Fields, 2016;76(8):439.
PMID: 28303081 DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4261-z

A search for new physics is performed using events with two isolated same-sign leptons, two or more jets, and missing transverse momentum. The results are based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13[Formula: see text] recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 [Formula: see text]. Multiple search regions are defined by classifying events in terms of missing transverse momentum, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta, the transverse mass associated with a [Formula: see text] boson candidate, the number of jets, the number of [Formula: see text] quark jets, and the transverse momenta of the leptons in the event. The analysis is sensitive to a wide variety of possible signals beyond the standard model. No excess above the standard model background expectation is observed. Constraints are set on various supersymmetric models, with gluinos and bottom squarks excluded for masses up to 1300 and 680[Formula: see text], respectively, at the 95 % confidence level. Upper limits on the cross sections for the production of two top quark-antiquark pairs (119[Formula: see text]) and two same-sign top quarks (1.7[Formula: see text]) are also obtained. Selection efficiencies and model independent limits are provided to allow further interpretations of the results.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Standardization of Nomenclature for Ocular Tuberculosis - Results of Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS) Workshop

Agrawal R, Agarwal A, Jabs DA, Kee A, Testi I, Mahajan S, et al.

Ocul Immunol Inflamm, 2019 Dec 10.
PMID: 31821096 DOI: 10.1080/09273948.2019.1653933

Purpose: To standardize a nomenclature system for defining clinical phenotypes, and outcome measures for reporting clinical and research data in patients with ocular tuberculosis (OTB).Methods: Uveitis experts initially administered and further deliberated the survey in an open meeting to determine and propose the preferred nomenclature for terms related to the OTB, terms describing the clinical phenotypes and treatment and reporting outcomes.Results: The group of experts reached a consensus on terming uveitis attributable to tuberculosis (TB) as tubercular uveitis. The working group introduced a SUN-compatible nomenclature that also defines disease "remission" and "cure", both of which are relevant for reporting treatment outcomes.Conclusion: A consensus nomenclature system has been adopted by a large group of international uveitis experts for OTB. The working group recommends the use of standardized nomenclature to prevent ambiguity in communication and to achieve the goal of spreading awareness of this blinding uveitis entity.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext Discovering the Value Creation System in IoT Ecosystems

Lopez CA, Castillo LF, Corchado JM

Sensors (Basel), 2021 Jan 06;21(2).
PMID: 33418918 DOI: 10.3390/s21020328

Internet of Things (IoT) should not be seen only as a cost reduction mechanism for manufacturing companies; instead, it should be seen as the basis for transition to a new business model that monetizes the data from an intelligent ecosystem. In this regard, deciphering the operation of the value creation system and finding the balance between the digital strategy and the deployment of technological platforms, are the main motivations behind this research. To achieve the proposed objectives, systems theory has been adopted in the conceptualization stage, later, fuzzy logic has been used to structure a subsystem for the evaluation of input parameters. Subsequently, system dynamics have been used to build a computational representation and later, through dynamic simulation, the model has been adjusted according to iterations and the identified limits of the system. Finally, with the obtained set of results, different value creation and capture behaviors have been identified. The simulation model, based on the conceptualization of the system and the mathematical representation of the value function, allows to establish a frame of reference for the evaluation of the behaviour of IoT ecosystems in the context of the connected home.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext DETERMINANTS OF PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR AMONG STUDENTS

MOHD YUSOFF YUSLIZA, ABDUL HAFAZ NGAH, DHIYA HILLMAN FADZIL

UMT Journal of Undergraduate Research, 2021;3(2):89-98.
MyJurnal

This paper examines the determinants of pro-environmental behaviour among university students. It uses the theory of planned behaviour in determining the factors that lead to such behaviour. The determinants consist of environmental awareness, psychological factors (motivation, moral norms, perceived behavioural control and attitude), environmental knowledge and personality traits (agreeableness, extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience). Data was collected using convenience sampling through self-administered surveys and online forms distributed to 400 students in a public university in Malaysia. Data was subjected to construct validity and reliability analysis. The findings highlighted that motivation, agreeableness and perceived behavioural control were positively related to the practice of pro-environmental behaviour, whereas environmental awareness, moral norms, attitude and environmental knowledge were negatively related. Some personality traits, namely neuroticism, openness to experience, conscientiousness and extraversion, did not show any significant relationship with the practice of pro-environmental behaviour. This study provides a scope to improvise and incorporate environmental practices into the habits of students by aligning their goals with the universities’ dimensions, including curriculum, campus operation, research and outreach activities. The results could make an important contribution in establishing a sustained green culture through a new university paradigm.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Self-management of chronic pain in Malaysian patients: effectiveness trial with 1-year follow-up

Cardosa M, Osman ZJ, Nicholas M, Tonkin L, Williams A, Abd Aziz K, et al.

Transl Behav Med, 2012 Mar;2(1):30-37.
PMID: 22448204

Self-management of chronic illnesses has been widely recognised as an important goal on quality of life, health service utilisation and cost grounds. This study describes the first published account on the application of this approach to people suffering from chronic pain conditions in a Southeast Asian country, Malaysia. A heterogeneous sample of chronic pain patients in Malaysia attended a 2-week cognitive-behavioural pain management programme (PMP) aimed at improving daily functional activities and general psychological well-being. Complete datasets from 70 patients out of 102 patients who attended 11 programmes conducted from 2002 to 2007, as well as the 1-month and 1-year follow-up sessions at the hospital clinic, are reported. The pre- to post-treatment results on self-report measures indicate that significant gains were achieved on the dimensions of pain, disability and psychological well-being. These gains were maintained at both 1-month and 1-year follow-ups. The results mirror those reported from similar interventions in Europe and North America and indicate the concept of self-management of a chronic illness is acceptable and meaningful to Asian patients. Importantly, the achieved outcomes were independent of gender and ethnic group status.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext Smart Costing Kit: game based learning for cost and management accounting

Rafizan Abdul Razak, Eley Suzana Kasim, Dalila Daud

ESTEEM Academic Journal, 2019;15(2):1-10.
MyJurnal

Cost and management accounting courses are incorporated in the accounting syllabus for both accounting and non-accounting students. One of the challenges in teaching cost and management accounting to the nonaccounting students is the general fear of accounting subject. Notwithstanding, most of the students still viewed accounting as an interesting subject. Hence, the learning problem faced by students needs to be addressed in a fun yet beneficial way. As such, the objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of using the “Smart Costing Game” as a learning method to overcome this problem. The Smart Costing Game Kit was developed as a learning tool to enable students to correctly classify costs according to certain criteria and subsequently used the cost figures to compute total costs, profit and selling price. Four business settings are chosen consisting of bakery, restaurant, laundry and clinic. At the end of the game activities, the students are required to complete an online survey. Results from the survey demonstrated that the majority of the students agreed that the games were found to be more effective, motivating and engaging than traditional teaching. This implies that students have strong
preferences in the use of educational games that added value to the costing subject. These results support the inclusion of Smart Costing Game as a successful learning strategy in cost and management accounting courses for the non-accounting students.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Influence of gender on career expectations of oral and maxillofacial surgeons

Abu-Hammad S, Elsayed SA, Nourwali I, Abu-Hammad O, Sghaireen M, Abouzaid BH, et al.

J Craniomaxillofac Surg, 2020 Apr;48(4):458-462.
PMID: 32184074 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcms.2020.02.023

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore gender differences on career satisfaction among oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMFS) and to compare their views on female gender representation in leadership and mentorship positions.
METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed among a sample of female and male OMFS surgeons in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Data were statistically analyzed to calculate significant differences between gender groups.
RESULTS: A total of 110 (70 males and 40 females) or (18.7%) of a total of 587 (OMFS) surgeons in the three countries participated. Respondents had a mean age of: 39.2 ± 9.0 years (range = 25-60 years). Significantly more males (60) than females (24) indicated satisfaction with their careers (P = 0.008), and significantly more males (66) than females (23) thought that OMFS is the right specialty for them (P

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext The impact of personal and environmental factors on the rehabilitation of persons with neglected spinal cord injury in Malaysia

Hanapi NHM, Zainin ES, Aziz MHA, Darus D

Spinal Cord Ser Cases, 2019;5:10.
PMID: 30701087 DOI: 10.1038/s41394-019-0154-3

Introduction: Managing neglected spinal cord injury (SCI) patients in a rural setting can be challenging due to a lack of resources and the unique personal and environmental contextual factors that may hinder rehabilitation. This article aims to identify the contextual factors and their impact on successful rehabilitation.
Case presentation: A middle-aged man from a rural area had suffered a neglected traumatic SCI and was first seen by the rehabilitation team 17 years post injury. He had a T7 AIS A paraplegia and was bedridden with multiple secondary complications. He was admitted with goals of optimizing his health, initiating basic spinal rehabilitation and improving his functional status. By 1 month, the patient made gradual improvement of his mobility and ADL but requested discharge despite not having achieved his rehab goals. We identified the factors that contributed to his poor motivation to be more functionally independent. Personal factors include poor educational level, his background personality and erratic health-seeking behaviour. Environmental factors included poor family and financial support, physical barriers, lack of work opportunities and facilities for people with disability, poor community support and acceptance and poor healthcare facilities and expertise.
Discussion: The patient's personal and environmental factors affected the delivery of SCI management, spinal rehabilitation and management of secondary comorbidities. Awareness of early spinal rehabilitation among the rural community and healthcare authorities is crucial to promote better implementation of policies, services or programs to support people with SCI.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation*
Fulltext Perceived Severity and Susceptibility towards Leptospirosis Infection in Malaysia

Sukeri S, Zahiruddin WM, Shafei MN, Hamat RA, Osman M, Jamaluddin TZMT, et al.

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2020 09 01;17(17).
PMID: 32882876 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17176362

BACKGROUND: Perceived severity and susceptibility refers to one's belief of the seriousness and the risk of contracting a specific disease. It is an essential study in public health as it assists in the understanding of the motivating factors towards disease prevention. This qualitative study aimed to explore perceived severity and susceptibility towards leptospirosis infection among respondents in two states of Malaysia.
METHODS: Focus group discussions using the phenomenology approach was conducted involving 72 respondents in Selangor and Kelantan. Data were examined using content analysis.
RESULTS: Respondents perceived leptospirosis infection as severe due to its poor disease prognosis and complications. However, some rated it less severe when compared with other chronic diseases such as cancer and AIDS. Their perceptions were influenced by their knowledge about the disease, media portrayal and frequency of health campaigns by the government. All respondents believed they were not susceptible to the disease.
CONCLUSION: The low perceived susceptibility of leptospirosis infection is a matter of concern as it may contribute to respondents' lack of motivation towards preventing the disease. The study findings may provide the basis for health promotional activities designed to heighten public perceived threat towards leptospirosis infection and thereby improving preventive health behaviors for avoiding leptospirosis.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Fulltext An Empirical Analysis of Rough Set Categorical Clustering Techniques

Uddin J, Ghazali R, Deris MM

PLoS One, 2017;12(1):e0164803.
PMID: 28068344 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164803

Clustering a set of objects into homogeneous groups is a fundamental operation in data mining. Recently, many attentions have been put on categorical data clustering, where data objects are made up of non-numerical attributes. For categorical data clustering the rough set based approaches such as Maximum Dependency Attribute (MDA) and Maximum Significance Attribute (MSA) has outperformed their predecessor approaches like Bi-Clustering (BC), Total Roughness (TR) and Min-Min Roughness(MMR). This paper presents the limitations and issues of MDA and MSA techniques on special type of data sets where both techniques fails to select or faces difficulty in selecting their best clustering attribute. Therefore, this analysis motivates the need to come up with better and more generalize rough set theory approach that can cope the issues with MDA and MSA. Hence, an alternative technique named Maximum Indiscernible Attribute (MIA) for clustering categorical data using rough set indiscernible relations is proposed. The novelty of the proposed approach is that, unlike other rough set theory techniques, it uses the domain knowledge of the data set. It is based on the concept of indiscernibility relation combined with a number of clusters. To show the significance of proposed approach, the effect of number of clusters on rough accuracy, purity and entropy are described in the form of propositions. Moreover, ten different data sets from previously utilized research cases and UCI repository are used for experiments. The results produced in tabular and graphical forms shows that the proposed MIA technique provides better performance in selecting the clustering attribute in terms of purity, entropy, iterations, time, accuracy and rough accuracy.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Comparison of the effectiveness of online and face-to-face weight-loss interventations in the workplace: evidence from Malaysia

Roszanadia Rusali, Zahara Abdul Manaf, Suzana Shahar, Fatin Hanani Mazri, Norhayati Ibrahim, Arimi Fitri Mat Ludin, et al.

Sains Malaysiana, 2018;47:2437-2445.

A structured weight management programme at a workplace may help in reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity.
Therefore, this intervention study was to determine the effectiveness of weight loss programmes including face-to-face,
online and control group at workplace among employees who are overweight and obese. A total of 108 overweight and
obese adults were recruited and randomly divided into three groups (face-to-face group (FT), n=38; online group (OG),
n=31; control group (CG), n=39). In the FT group, the participants took part in health talks, interactive activities and
counselling; the OG group was given access to an online weight management program and the CG group was provided
with educational booklets on weight loss. All information given was related to nutrition, physical activity and motivation
to reduce weight. Body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), body fat percentage, dietary intake,
fasting lipid profile and glucose levels were assessed at baseline and 4 months. The FT group showed greater reduction
in body weight (-5.80 kg) compared to OG (-1.12 kg) and CG (-1.82 kg). Significant interaction effects were found for BMI,
WC, fasting serum triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio (all p<0.05), with the FT
group showing the biggest improvements, compared to the other groups. The face-to-face weight management program
offered in the workplace showed to be the most effective at improving anthropometric profile, fasting serum triglycerides,
HDL-C, total cholesterol/HDL-C ratio, and dietary intake among overweight and obese employees.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation
Effect of psychosocial safety climate on psychological distress via job resources, work engagement and workaholism: a multilevel longitudinal study

Yulita Y, Idris MA, Dollard MF

Int J Occup Saf Ergon, 2020 Oct 15.
PMID: 32912109 DOI: 10.1080/10803548.2020.1822054

Objective. Our innovation was to propose a multilevel model to explain how an organizational factor, psychosocial safety climate (PSC) - the climate for worker psychological health - related to work investment (work engagement and workaholism) and, in turn, psychological distress. Methods. Longitudinal data were collected in Peninsular Malaysia across 26 police departments from 392 police personnel, matched across 4 months, and were tested using hierarchical linear modeling. Results. The analysis revealed between-group effects linking PSC to job resources, to work engagement and to workaholism. When PSC operated by improving job resources, aside from increased work engagement, it could unwittingly boost workaholism. However, this only existed under low PSC conditions. The secondary function of PSC buffered the impact of job resources on workaholism and psychological distress. When PSC was high, job resources reduced both workaholism and psychological distress, suggesting that PSC enabled resources to do their job of mitigating unfavorable conditions. Conclusions. Results support a multilevel PSC-extended job demands-resources motivational path with cross-links, and PSC's moderation function, as an explanation of worker psychological health. Confirming PSC as a leading indicator and the importance of a motivational path, this article presents new evidence in support of targeting PSC to improve worker psychological health.

Matched MeSH terms: Motivation

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