MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study conducted in SGH during the pandemic with an online self-administered questionnaire composed of two parts, the socio-demographic characteristics, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS).
RESULTS: A total of 105 healthcare workers responded to this study. A questionnaire in both Bahasa Melayu and English was used. The findings showed that all healthcare workers had mild anxiety, with the majority experiencing mild stress (57.1%), and almost half of the respondents experiencing mild depression (41%). Female subjects had a significant higher mean score in anxiety level and stress level compared to male subjects (10.0±3.20 vs. 8.6±2.93, p<0.05; 14.1±4.76 vs. 10.7±3.70, p<0.05, respectively). Staff who were transferred from other units to handle COVID-19 cases experienced more psychological symptoms. There were significant correlations between the depression, anxiety and stress levels among the healthcare workers and the number of children they had (r=0.739, p=0.001; r=0.642, p=0.001; r=1, p =0.001 respectively). However, the stress level among the healthcare workers was reversely correlated with their years of working experience (r=-0.199, p=0.042).
CONCLUSION: This study identified some socio-demographic factors associated with increased levels of stress, anxiety and depression among the healthcare workers during pandemic, which may lay ground for future interventions.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April in 2016 to examine the mediating effect of health literacy on the relationship between age and healthcare utilisation. A total of 452 older persons were recruited from 14 public hospitals in Malaysia.
RESULTS: The average age of the respondents was 66.69 years old, with an age range between 60 to 105 years. The findings reveal that the relationship between age and healthcare utilisation was mediated by health literacy.
CONCLUSION: The results help to improve the understanding of healthcare utilisation among the older persons in Malaysia, which is beneficial to the healthcare provider and policymakers.
DESIGN: A cross-sectional study.
SETTING: 11 manufacturing factories in Malaysia.
PARTICIPANTS: 177 night-shift workers aged 40-65 years old were compared with 317 non-night-shift workers.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES: Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on socio-demographics and lifestyle factors, 12-item Short Form Health Survey V.2 (SF-12v2) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The Baron and Kenny's method, Sobel test and multiple mediation model with bootstrapping were applied to determine whether PSQI score or its components mediated the association between night-shift work and HRQoL.
RESULTS: Night-shift work was associated with sleep impairment and HRQoL. Night-shift workers had significantly lower mean scores in all the eight SF-12 domains (p<0.001). Compared with non-night-shift workers, night-shift workers were significantly more likely to report poorer sleep quality, longer sleep latency, shorter sleep duration, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction (p<0.001). Mediation analyses showed that PSQI global score mediated the association between night-shift work and HRQoL. 'Subjective sleep quality' (indirect effect=-0.24, SE=0.14 and bias corrected (BC) 95% CI -0.58 to -0.01) and 'sleep disturbances' (indirect effect=-0.79, SE=0.22 and BC 95% CI -1.30 to -0.42) were mediators for the association between night-shift work and physical well-being, whereas 'sleep latency' (indirect effect=-0.51, SE=0.21 and BC 95% CI -1.02 to -0.16) and 'daytime dysfunction' (indirect effect=-1.11, SE=0.32 and BC 95% CI -1.86 to -0.58) were mediators with respect to mental well-being.
CONCLUSION: Sleep quality partially explains the association between night-shift work and poorer HRQoL. Organisations should treat the sleep quality of night-shift workers as a top priority area for action to improve their employees' overall wellbeing.
Methodology: This paper examined the coronavirus pandemic and spirituality sociologically in southwest Nigeria, using secondary and primary data. Secondary data includes a review of literature, social media comments, official records, and newspaper reports. Primary data entails using google form (questionnaire) circulated via social media with 221 responses retrieved and analyzed using the frequency distribution tables and bar charts. Also, a one-sample t-test was used for further statistical analysis.
Results: Findings show that rather than attributing coronavirus incidence to spirituality alone, most of the respondents also see it as a public health concern, and precautionary measures should adhere. They see the government ban on social gathering, which affected the religious houses as the right thing to do and not solely targeted as religious houses. However, most believe that religious houses provide 'essential' emotional and spiritual support to the people. Respondents also believe they can get their healing from their place of worship even if infected with the coronavirus.
Conclusion: Based on the findings it was recommended that religious organizations should source valid data so that policy-makers can make informed decisions. Also, there is a need to have an accurate record of the number of infected persons and death rates to know the right time to ease lockdown and lift the social gathering measures. There should also be a place for easy and free testing for people. This will help the government ascertain the number of infected persons, reduce the associated fear with the pandemic, and lessen the people's economic, social, and religious effects.
METHODS: A multistage sampling was performed across rural primary schools in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, Malaysia. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and the children aged 10-11 years (n=312) were subjected to cognitive tests including digit span, letter-number sequencing, coding, and symbol search. Cognitive performance was tested using subscales derived from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.
RESULTS: The prevalence of SHS exposure at home was 55.8%, where 11.9% of children lived with one smoker, while 43.9% of children lived with ≥2 smokers. There was a significant difference in the mean score of the combined cognitive tests between SHS-exposed and non-exposed children after adjustment for sex, parental educational level, family income and academic performance [Pillai's Trace=0.084, F statistic (df)=6.803 (4302), p<0.001].
CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the primary school children in rural Kuala Krai were exposed to SHS from at least one smoker at home. There was a significant association between SHS exposure at home and cognitive performance.