METHOD: An audio-taped focus group interview was undertaken with 14 medical students using a semi-structured interview guide. The recorded discussion was transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was performed.
RESULTS: Initial apprehension about interacting with patients lessened as the students engaged in shared activities. Students described their increased awareness of the normality and competence of psychiatric patients. As future doctors, they reported a greater understanding of the benefits of social inclusion for patients and carers alike. Promoting positive experiences of patient contact … may be important in influencing medical students' attitudes to people with mental illness
DISCUSSION: Medical students' joint participation in a group activity programme for people with mental illness in non-hospital settings may have advantages in promoting positive attitudinal change. Clinical teachers could usefully incorporate this type of experience into the undergraduate psychiatry curriculum.
OBJECTIVE: The researchers believed that culturally sensitive video narratives, which catered to a specific niche, would reveal a personalized impact on medication adherence. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate video narratives for this purpose.
METHODS: This study adapted the Delphi method to develop a consensus on the video scripts' contents based on learning outcomes and HBM constructs. The panel of experts comprised 8 members representing professional stroke disease experts and experienced poststroke patients in Malaysia. The Delphi method involved 3 rounds of discussions. Once the consensus among members was achieved, the researchers drafted the initial scripts in English, which were then back translated to the Malay language. A total of 10 bilingual patients, within the study's inclusion criteria, screened the scripts for comprehension. Subsequently, a neurologist and poststroke patient narrated the scripts in both languages as they were filmed, to add to the realism of the narratives. Then, the video narratives underwent a few cycles of editing after some feedback on video engagement by the bilingual patients. Few statistical analyses were applied to confirm the validity and reliability of the video narratives.
RESULTS: Initially, the researchers proposed 8 learning outcomes and 9 questions based on HBM constructs for the video scripts' content. However, following Delphi rounds 1 to 3, a few statements were omitted and rephrased. The Kendall coefficient of concordance, W, was about 0.7 (Pself-efficacy among patients with stroke. A feasibility and acceptability study in an actual stroke care center is needed.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12618000174280; https://www.anzctr.org.au /Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=373554&isReview=true.
Methods: We searched seven databases up to July 2020 for randomized controlled trials investigating the effectiveness of telemedicine in the delivery of diabetes care in low- and middle-income countries. We extracted data on the study characteristics, primary end-points and effect sizes of outcomes. Using random effects analyses, we ran a series of meta-analyses for both biochemical outcomes and related patient properties.
Findings: We included 31 interventions in our meta-analysis. We observed significant standardized mean differences of -0.38 for glycated haemoglobin (95% confidence interval, CI: -0.52 to -0.23; I2 = 86.70%), -0.20 for fasting blood sugar (95% CI: -0.32 to -0.08; I2 = 64.28%), 0.81 for adherence to treatment (95% CI: 0.19 to 1.42; I2 = 93.75%), 0.55 for diabetes knowledge (95% CI: -0.10 to 1.20; I2 = 92.65%) and 1.68 for self-efficacy (95% CI: 1.06 to 2.30; I2 = 97.15%). We observed no significant treatment effects for other outcomes, with standardized mean differences of -0.04 for body mass index (95% CI: -0.13 to 0.05; I2 = 35.94%), -0.06 for total cholesterol (95% CI: -0.16 to 0.04; I2 = 59.93%) and -0.02 for triglycerides (95% CI: -0.12 to 0.09; I2 = 0%). Interventions via telephone and short message service yielded the highest treatment effects compared with services based on telemetry and smartphone applications.
Conclusion: Although we determined that telemedicine is effective in improving several diabetes-related outcomes, the certainty of evidence was very low due to substantial heterogeneity and risk of bias.
METHODS: In a cross-sectional survey, the undergraduate students in Universiti Sains Malaysia were invited to complete the self-administered questionnaires. Participants were selected using a purposive sampling method. The proposed hypothesised model was analysed using a structural equation modelling with Mplus 7.3 program. A total of 788 (70.7% female) undergraduate students with a mean age of 20.2 (SD = 1.02) participated in the study. The primary outcome of knowledge, health beliefs, and health-promoting behaviours related to CVD were measured by questionnaires namely: Knowledge of Heart Disease, Health Beliefs Related to CVD, and Health Promoting Lifestyle Profiles-II.
RESULTS: The final hypothetical structural model showed a good fit to the data based on several fit indices: with comparative fit index (CFI) at .921, standardised root mean square residual (SRMR) at .037, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) at .044 (90% CI: .032, .054). The final structural model supported 13 significant path estimates. These variables explained 12% of the total variance in health-promoting behaviours. Through perceived benefits, total knowledge had an indirect effect on health-promoting behaviours.
CONCLUSION: The results suggest that perceived barriers, perceived benefits, family history of CVD, and screening intention enable young adults to engage in health-promoting behaviours.
Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with chronic diseases and pharmacists from three public hospitals in Malaysia. The Revised United States Leeds Attitudes toward Concordance (RUS-LATCon) was used to measure attitudes toward concordance in both patients and pharmacists. Patients also rated their perceived level of involvement in decision making and completed the Decision Self-Efficacy scale. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t-test were used to determine significant differences between different subgroups on attitudes toward concordance, and multiple linear regression was performed to find the predictors of patients' self-efficacy in decision making.
Results: A total of 389 patients and 93 pharmacists participated in the study. Pharmacists and patients scored M=3.92 (SD=0.37) and M=3.84 (SD=0.46) on the RUS-LATCon scale, respectively. Seven items were found to be significantly different between pharmacists and patients on the subscale level. Patients who felt fully involved in decision making (M=3.94, SD=0.462) scored significantly higher on attitudes toward concordance than those who felt partially involved (M=3.82, SD=0.478) and not involved at all (M=3.68, SD=0.471; p<0.001). Patients had an average score of 76.7% (SD=14.73%) on the Decision Self-Efficacy scale. In multiple linear regression analysis, ethnicity, number of medications taken by patients, patients' perceived level of involvement, and attitudes toward concordance are significant predictors of patients' self-efficacy in decision making (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Patients who felt involved in their consultations had more positive attitudes toward concordance and higher confidence in making an informed decision. Further study is recommended on interventions involving pharmacists in supporting patients' involvement in medication-related decision making.
METHODS: This cross-sectional questionnaire study involved 329 patients with T2DM who received their follow up at a public primary care clinic. Patients were selected via systematic random sampling. Patients self-completed locally adapted versions of the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Social Support Survey and Diabetic Management Self Efficacy Scale (DMSES). The scores of both tools were analysed to determine the association and correlation between social support and self-efficacy.
RESULTS: The mean score for overall social support was 72.7±21.40 score range (0-100). "Affectionate support" was rated the highest averaged mean score at 78.31±23.71 (score range: 0-100). The mean DMSES score was 147.6±35.5 (score range :0-200), of which "medications" subscale was rated the highest with averaged mean scores 9.07±1.67 (score range: 0-10). Overall social support and self-efficacy were found to be weakly correlated (r=0.197, p<0.001). However, all subscales of social support were moderately correlated with "medications" subscale of self-efficacy.
CONCLUSION: Social support is significantly associated with patients' self-efficacy in handling their own medications.