Introduction: This study examined a cognitive model of depression among undergraduate students of
medical and allied health sciences. Methods: Participants (N = 279) completed a series of questionnaires related to depression (Beck Depression Inventory-Malay), negative cognitions (Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Malay), dysfunctional attitude (Dysfunctional Attitude Scale-Malay), stressful life events (Life Events Survey), self-efficacy (General Self-Efficacy) and quality of life (WHO Quality of Life- BREF). Results: Results of descriptive analysis revealed a higher percentage of severe depression among males when compared to female students. Results of structural equation modeling indicated an adequate fit of the model ( 2= 21.29, df = 15, p > .13; GFI = 0.97; CFI = 0.97; RMSEA = .04).
Conclusion: The findings also indicated the potential roles of self-efficacy in mediating depression.
The results are discussed in terms of self-regulating strategies of managing depression and the roles that university authorities may play in helping students to regulate depression.
Objective: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for depression is popular in Western countries. In the context of Malaysia, CBT has been applied as an individual session in a clinical setting. However, there is limited research in the area of group CBT for depression among Malays. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (GCBT) in reducing the negative cognitions that are related to depression in a group of Malay patients. Methods: One hundred and thirteen patients, diagnosed with depression, were randomly allocated to either a Treatment As Usual (TAU)
group (n = 55), or a TAU plus GCBT group (n = 58). All participants completed two questionnaires that measured maladaptive cognitions at pretreatment, midway through treatment, post-treatment (week 4), and at followups after three (week 16) and six months (week 28). Results: The TAU+GCBT patients improved significantly more, and at a faster rate, than the TAU group; which showed minimal improvement. The effect size (Cohen’s d) of the treatment group was 0.93 and 96.55% of the treatment group achieved a clinically significant change. Conclusions: The findings suggest that GCBT, when used in addition to the TAU, is effective in reducing negative thoughts and maladaptive attitudes of Malaysian patients suffering from depression.
The current study aims to investigate the validated measures used to assess anxiety in Malaysia through a systematic review. The PsycINFO and MEDLINE databases, and 28 local journals were used to search for published papers in this particular area. Twenty articles met the inclusion criteria and reviewed. The results showed that majority of the studies have validated self-report inventories, rather than structured clinical interviews. The preferred measures validated were Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and General Health Questionnaire-12 item. The psychometric properties of the validated measures were also reported in this review. In general, the measures have a wide range of reliability, validity, and factor structures. However, not all of the studies adhere to the standard procedures for adapting Western-based measure. The limitations of the studies under review were also being highlighted.
Introduction: Childhood obesity is increasing in prevalence in Malaysia. Excess in dietary intake and inadequate physical activity contribute to the development of obesity among children. The objective of this study was to de-termine the association between eating behaviour and excess weight among primary school children in an urban community in Malaysia. Methods: This is a baseline data of a randomized control field trial of a family-based inter-vention to reduce adiposity in overweight and obese children. It involved five primary government schools in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor. The inclusion criteria include parent-child dyad; children aged 7 to 10 years with body mass index (BMI) z-score of +1 standard deviation or more. Parents completed the validated self-administered Children Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ). This questionnaire assessed children’s eating behaviour that includes food responsiveness, enjoyment of food, emotional overeating, desire to drink, slowness in eating, satiety responsiveness, emotional undereating and food fussiness. The children’s weight and height were measured and the BMI z-score was calculated. The association between CEBQ subscales and obesity was assessed using multiple linear regression, adjusted for sex and family income. Results: One hundred and thirty-four parent-child dyads had participated in this study. The food responsiveness was found to be significant with excess weight (β = 0.094, 95% CI: 0.02-0.17, p= 0.014). Conclusion: The food responsiveness subscale was associated with excess weight. This eating behaviour need to be taken into consideration in the development and implementation of health campaign targeted at the re-duction of childhood obesity.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a DVDdelivered mindfulness-based intervention for reducing stress among medical students in a Malaysian university. Methods: A total of 76 medical students participated in the intervention program (Mindful-Gym DVD). They were stratified according to year of studies and randomly allocated to intervention (N = 38) and control groups (N = 38). The following outcome variables were measured at pre- and post-intervention: mindfulness (with Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, MAAS); perceived stress (with Perceived Stress Scale, PSS); mental distress (with Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, DASS); and self-efficacy (with General Selfefficacy Scale, GSE). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the effect of group (Intervention vs. Control) on changes in the outcome variables. Results: One week after the intervention, participants in the intervention group reported significantly greater improvements with small to medium effect sizes in self-reported levels of mindfulness (β =0.19, ∆R2= 0.04, p = 0.028, f2= 0.07), perceived stress (β = -0.25, ∆R2=0.06, p = 0.006, f2= 0.11), mental distress (β = -0.27, ∆R2= 0.07, p =0.003, f2= 0.13), and self-efficacy (β = 0.27, ∆R2= 0.07, p = 0.003, f2= 0.13), compared to participants in the control group. The number needed to treat (NNT) to achieve ‘normal’ levels of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms (as indicated by the DASS scores) were 5, 8, and 6 respectively. Conclusions: This study found that the DVD-delivered mindfulness-based program is potentially a labour- and cost-effective and easily accessible stress reduction program for medical students.
The 12- item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) has been translated into many languages and widely used in different settings and countries. Its reliability and psychometric properties were extensively studied in many population groups which suggested that it measures psychological distress in multidimensional construct. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the reliability and factor structure of the Bahasa Malaysia version of the GHQ-12 among university students attending a health program at a Malaysian public university. Method: The cross sectional survey was conducted on 306 undergraduate students aged between 18 to 27 years old who visited the booth set up for mental health screening at a health program. The screening was conducted using a self-administered, validated Bahasa Malaysia version of GHQ-12 questionnaire. Results: Using exploratory factor analysis, the Bahasa Malaysia version of GHQ-12 was found to have a three factor structures namely depressive symptoms, self-esteem and perceived abilities which accounted for 58% of the item variance. The overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be high (0.84) with each factor having acceptable inter-item consistency ranging from 0.61 to 0.82. Conclusion: The findings of the study show that the Bahasa Malaysia version GHQ-12 is reliable and has good structural characteristics. It can assess a few domains of the psychological status of university students. It also helps in providing more information
on the domain which may become a focus target of intervention in the prevention of mental illness.