Introduction: Breast cancer is globally known to be the commonest cause of cancer-related deaths among women. Screening tools which include breast-self examination (BSE), clinical breast examination and mammography are well-recognised to aid the detection of breast cancer among high risk women. Thus, our study was aimed to evaluate breast cancer and BSE awareness and practice, and to perform mammography screening among women who attend- ed community breast cancer awareness and screening programme. Methods: Data was collected cross-sectionally from 2,021 women during community services from September 2013 until December 2015. Results: Majority of the women had previously attended health education on breast cancer (56.3%) and had been taught BSE techniques (61.4%), but only 38.6% performed BSE monthly. Factors associated with regular BSE practice were older age, higher education level, being married, higher monthly income, had attended health education on breast cancer, and had been taught BSE techniques. A subset of 130 high-risk women had underwent mammography screening and major- ity had heterogenously dense and normal mammogram findings. Conclusion: These findings suggested that regular breast cancer awareness campaigns is needed to strengthen breast cancer knowledge and to emphasise BSE tech- niques. Such campaigns should target younger women and those with low socioeconomic status.
Introduction: Unsafe blood products cause transfusion-transmissible infections. A good knowledge and perception about blood safety issues is crucial to ensure safe blood supply. The objective is to develop and validate a question- naire about the knowledge and perception among blood donors on blood safety issues. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 130 blood donors who attended the National Blood Centre, Kuala Lumpur in April and May 2018. The questionnaire was developed in the Malay language after extensive literature search. The self-admin- istrated questionnaire consisted 39 items which required around 20 minutes to complete. The validation involved content validity, construct validity using exploratory factor analysis and reliability using test-retest analysis in IBM SPSS statistics. The same group of respondents was retested after two weeks using the same questionnaire. Results: Content validity was established through multidisciplinary expert meeting and two content reviewers. The factors loadings of all questionnaires were more than 0.40. Knowledge questions were divided into three domains; percep- tion questions were divided into four domains. The intraclass correlation (ICC) values of the test-retest were more than 0.80 for the three knowledge domains and more than 0.60 for the four perception domains. The third domain of the perception section which consisted two questions had the lowest ICC value of 0.686 (95% CI 0.583-0.767). One of the questions was restructured to improve clarity. Conclusions: The questionnaire on knowledge and perception on blood safety issues has good validity and reliability, with appropriate items which warranted its utilization among blood donors.
Introduction: Thalassemia prevalence in Malaysia is highest in Sabah. This study was conducted to characterize the demographic and socioeconomic profile of transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia major patients in Sabah, to explore their parents’ background, and to identify factors associated with having more than one thalassemia major children in the family. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Hospital Wanita dan Kanak-Kanak Sabah and Hospital Kota Belud Sabah between February 2018 and Jun 2019. A total of 108 patients attending Thalassemia Treatment Clinic at both centers were selected randomly for interview. Results: β-thalassemia major patients in this study were majority from the indigenous ethnic groups (Kadazan, Dusun, Murut, Rungus, Sungai). Parents of the thalassemia patients mostly had low education level and socioeconomic status. Thirty-seven percent of parents have more than one children with thalassemia major and a high proportion (41.7%) have intermarriages. Parents with a higher number of children in the family are associated with having more than one thalassemia major children (OR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.5, 2.9, P-value = 1.3 x 10-5). Conclusions: A considerably high proportion of parents have more than one children with thalassemia major in this study. Knowledge and counselling are important to parents with low educational level and socioeconomic status to ensure their understanding of thalassemia risk and prevention.
Introduction: Transfusion Medicine is an evolving filed which integrates multidisciplinary science in providing safe blood and blood products for patients. With an increasing demand for Transfusion Medicine training in Malaysia, a formal survey is needed to evaluate the postgraduate Transfusion Medicine programme offered by Advanced Med- ical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia to identify areas of deficiency based on the alumni experiences. Methods: An English language survey form was developed specifically to assess the programme contents (overall contents, learning experience in each year, and support in research), the alumni perception on soft-skills gained during the study, and the outcome of the programme. The survey forms were distributed to all alumni between March 2018 and October 2018 via e-mail or hand-delivered. Results: The survey response rate was 79% (37 of 47). A ma- jority (97%) of the transfusion medicine specialists (TMS) in this study reported that the course offered in the program was relevant to their current job. The learning experience which includes course content, student’s placement, facili- ties, and support in research) were rated between satisfactory and good. Communicating effectively through speaking was the highest reported soft-skill gained during the programme, whereas communicating effectively in writing was the lowest soft-skill gained. On the programme outcome, all TMS agreed that this programme will produce qualified and well trained specialists for current working market. Conclusion: Some improvement in the programme contents and teaching activities are needed to equip the future TMS for the nation.