METHODS: This is an assessor blinded randomized controlled trial comparing 2 intervention approaches namely ART-added physiotherapy (experimental group) and usual physiotherapy (control group). A total of 70 post-stroke patients will be recruited and allocated into either the ART-added physiotherapy or the usual physiotherapy group. The ART-added physiotherapy group will undergo a 20-minute ART session followed by 40 minutes of usual physiotherapy. While the usual physiotherapy group will receive usual physiotherapy alone for 60 minutes. All participants will be treated once a week and are required to carry out a set of home exercises for 2 times per week during the 12-week intervention. Assessment of emotional status and functional independence will be carried out at pre-intervention and week 13 of the intervention with the use of Hospital anxiety and depression scale, Barthel index, and EuroQol-5 dimensions-5 levels. All data will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
DISCUSSION: The expected main study outcome is an enhanced evidence-based physiotherapy program that may be used by physiotherapists in the rehabilitation of stroke patients with emotional disturbances.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12619001664134 (last updated on 28/11/2019).
METHODS: A total of 50 stroke patients aged 29 to 81-year-old were included in this study. A face to face interview was conducted to gather the demographic and clinical data. Subsequently, assessments including Barthel ADL Index (BI), Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were administered to the subjects.
RESULTS: The results showed that the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 76% among the studied populations. The subjects' race (Fisher's value= 9.56, P < 0.05) and education level (Fisher's value = 7.29, P < 0.05) were significantly associated with the cognitive status. The depression score was significantly higher in cognitively impaired group [t (48) = -4.42, P < 0.001] while the Barthel Index score was significantly lower in cognitively impaired group (median = 18.00, P < 0.05). The univariate logistic analysis demonstrated that Chinese (OR 7.33, 95% CI = 1.61-33.51), lower education level (OR 9.33, 95% CI = 0.89-97.62), right sided lesion (OR 0.29, 95% CI = 0.06-1.54), left face weaknesses (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.09-1.83), high cholesterol (OR 0.45, 95% CI = 0.12-1.75), depression (OR 2.16, 95% CI = 0.85-1.35), and Barthel Index (OR 0.79, 95% CI = 0.57-1.10) were significant predictors. Finally, multivariate logistic regression verified that depression was the only significant predictor of post-stroke cognitive impairment (OR 2.03, 95% CI = 1.20-3.45).
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the prevalence of cognitive impairment in this study was higher than other community based studies and depression was a risk factor for cognitive impairment.
Methods: A total of 152 participants (dementia = 53, MCI = 38, controls = 61) were recruited from two teaching hospitals. The Malay version of ACE-III was translated following the standard guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of measure. All the participants were assessed with the Malay version of ACE-III and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).
Results: The reliability of the Malay version of ACE-III was good with Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.829 and intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.959. There was a strong positive correlation between the Malay version of ACE-III and MMSE (r = 0.806). Age (r = -0.335) and years of education (r = 0.536) exerted a significant correlation with total score performance. The cutoff score to discriminate dementia from healthy controls was 74/75 (sensitivity = 90.6%, specificity = 82.0%) whereas to discriminate MCI, the cutoff score was 77/78 (sensitivity = 63.2%, specificity = 63.9%). The diagnostic accuracy of ACE-III was higher than that of MMSE in the detection of dementia (area under the curve: ACE-III = 0.929 vs. MMSE = 0.915).
Conclusions: The Malay version of ACE-III demonstrated to be a reliable and valid screening tool for dementia.
METHODS: This study comprises of three phases, namely (1) items selection phase, (2) pilot study phase, and (3) scale validation phase. During the first phase, the items were selected from items pools which gathered from previous suicide ideation/ attitude scales. Then the pilot study was carried out to examine the items for Yatt Suicide Attitude Scale (YSAS). Lastly, the Yatt Suicide Attitude Scale (YSAS) validation study was conducted with 219 university students.
RESULTS: Initial version of YSAS comprised 16 items and three components. After factor analysis, the questionnaire was reduced into only two components (Suicide Ideation and Suicide Attempt) with 5 items each. Both of the components obtained high reliability value (.89 and.86 respectively) and the questionnaire accounted for 67.84% of the total variance.
CONCLUSION: The analysis showed that YSAS has an acceptable reliability and validity for Malaysian population. Although these findings corroborate literature on development of suicide ideation assessment instrument for specific cultural context, there is a need to further examine its reliability with clinical population and general population of different cultural context in Malaysia.
METHODS: Thirty-two male adults (18-25 years) completed a 5-day pilot randomized, counterbalanced crossover study. Participants were assigned to calming-then-achievement (CAG, n = 13), achievement-then-calming (ACG, n = 12), or a no-intervention control group (CG, n = 7). Biomarkers were assessed on Days 1, 3, and 5 in active groups and Days 1 and 5 in CG; perceived stress was assessed on Days 1 and 5.
RESULTS: Serotonin was significantly higher following achievement than calming imagery (calming - achievement: -66.5 ng/mL, 95% CI -123.2 to -9.8; p = .019; partial η2 = .113), with a significant sequence effect (p = .014). Cortisol and β-endorphin showed no modality, period, or sequence effects. β-Endorphin increased over time (p
METHODS: A total of 176 adolescents in selected urban areas in the states of Wilayah Persekutuan and Selangor were selected. The Suicide Ideation Scale (SIS) was used to measure the level of severity or tendency of suicidal ideation. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) was used to measure the perceived social support received by the respondent while the Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (SWBS) was used to measure the religious wellbeing (RWB), the existential wellbeing (EWB) and the overall score of spiritual wellbeing (SWB).
RESULTS: The study found that both RWB and EWB showed significant negative correlation with suicidal ideation. Similarly, support from family and friends also showed a negative correlation with suicidal ideation. Further analysis using multiple regressions showed that RWB and SWB, and family support predict suicidal ideation in adolescents.
CONCLUSION: Spiritual wellbeing in combination with family support plays a major role in predicting suicidal ideation. Therefore, intervention for encompassing spirituality and family support may contribute to a more positive outcome in suicidal adolescents.