Emotional and behavioural problems among children have been increasing in many western as
well as the eastern countries. Although the problem has been given attention and priority in
terms of early detection, many children with early symptoms of emotional and behavioural
problems has still not been detected at the early stages. This phenomenon is worrying as mental
health problems were shown to be stable in the long run and if left undetected it may manifest
into various problems in adulthood. This paper explores the issues on emotional and
behavioural problems in terms of its definition, prevalence, aetiology, long term consequences
and treatment. It also explores on mental health problems in a non-western country, i.e.
Malaysia including its prevalence and intervention strategies which has been carried out in
overcoming this worrying issue. Finally this review paper stresses the importance of providing
a well-designed epidemiological study in Malaysia in assessing the current prevalence of
emotional and behavioural problems in young children and adolescent
Introduction: The daily life problems of patients with schizophrenia as well as their symptoms are challenging sit- uations that may interfere with their psychological well-being. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the psychological well-being of patients with schizophrenia and factors affecting it. Methods: A cross sec- tional study was conducted to examine the socio-demographic factors, health level, social support and self-esteem of patients with schizophrenia. A total of 255 respondents consisting of patients on follow-up from specialist clinics at three Psychiatric Hospitals in this country were selected to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaires used were the Affect Balance Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale for the measurement of the psychological well-being, social support and self-esteem respectively. The data was analysed using Chi-Square and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: A total of 62% of the respondents had positive psychological wellbeing. Socio demographic factors, namely occupation (p=0.007), overall social support (p=0.023), family support (p=0.040), significant others’ support (p=0.046), and self-esteem (p < 0.001), were associ- ated with positive psychological well-being. Conclusion: This study has proven that patients with schizophrenia who regularly received treatment can achieve positive psychological well-being when they have high self-esteem, strong support from their family members as well as people around them and are stable occupation.
Introduction: Dyslexia, which is a learning disability that affects many aspects of children’s development, has a prevalence of 5 – 17%, worldwide. There are many negative perceptions towards children with dyslexia, and one of it is when there is lack of teachers’ knowledge about this problem. Aim: The objective of this study is to develop and discuss on a newly developed module on dyslexia, i.e. Dyslexia Health Education Module (DHEM) for preschool teachers, Method: This module is developed using the ADDIE model (A-Analysis, D-De- sign, D-Develop, I- Implement, E-Evaluate). The content of DHEM consists of general information for pre-school teachers about dyslexia, identification and intervention for dyslexia among children as well as its mental health implications. Results: The newly developed module was found to have a good content validity with a score of 0.7 when evaluated by eight expert panels from respective fields. The Cronbach alpha’s value for reliability test was 0.90. These findings suggest that this module is good, reliable and applicable. Discussion: It is hoped that with the development of DHEM, this would increase teachers’ knowledge on dyslexia among children in Malaysia, especially in recognizing at-risk children and consequently may lead to early intervention in managing the problem. This study also suggests that future longitudinal studies should be carried out using this module to ensure its effectiveness in the long run.
Men’s health remain unclear term for majority of general population as well as physician worlwide. Nowadays there is an increase interest in addressing men’s requirement in health care as a separate branch. When discussing about men’s health, it is fair to say that even a man himself does not know much about men’s health. Most of them think that men’s health is just a discussion on sex. This thought is not entirely right. The scope of men’s health is actually larger than the male sex organ itself. To define men’s health, we have to look at man holistically.
Introduction In Malaysia although mortality rate among women of reproductive ages has
reduced over the years, the reduction has been stagnant for the past ten years.
In order to achieve the 5th Millennium Development Goal, several measures
need to be taken including a proper implementation of pre-pregnancy
services in this country. This study explores the awareness, intention and
usage of pre-pregnancy care (PPC) services and its determinant among
women of reproductive ages in Kedah, Malaysia.
Methods This is a qualitative study, which consisted of a focus group discussion
(FGD) among women in the ages of 18 to 45 years old from all ethnic groups
who attended four government clinics in the state of Kedah. The mothers
were chosen through purposive sampling from twelve districts that were
selected through a multistage random sampling. A semi-structured
questionnaire was utilized during the FGD. The results from the FGD were
recorded verbatim and thematic analysis was finalized once saturation of
information from respondents was achieved.
Results These are two themes was identified, namely personal reasons and reasons of
service and there are several subthemes under two main themes. Under the
Personal reason themes, the subthemes including awareness and intention to
used the services, knowledge, perception, social support and history of
medical illness. While under pre-pregnancy care services themes, the
subthemes including the promotion of the services, the communication
relationship with the health staff, the waiting time and also the accessibility
of the service.
Conclusions As a conclusion, there is still part of society who was unaware of prepregnancy
services and its importance in reducing maternal mortality rate as
well as producing good pregnancy outcome. Information and knowledge on
pre-pregnancy care services should be disseminated among community
members through various means including roadshows and pre wedding
workshops.
Introduction: Measles outbreaks are endemic in Southeast Asia. A possible reason for such outbreaks is low vaccine coverage. In Malaysia, there is a lack of studies on measles outbreaks. The urban district of Petaling in Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia, reported a high number of outbreaks in 2014–2018. Thus, we analysed the trend of mea- sles outbreaks and identify the common characteristics of measles cases in Petaling District. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using secondary data from the Petaling District Health Office online surveillance system. Data from 2014 until 2018 from the e-Measles and eWabak systems were extracted, and the trend and common character- istics of measles cases were analysed. Results: A total of 48 outbreaks involving 124 cases were reported during the period investigated. The outbreaks showed an increasing trend from 2.1% in 2014 to 37.5% in 2016, and decreased slightly from 29.2% in 2017 to 27.1% in 2018. The common characteristics were age 1 to
In 2015, almost half of low birth weight babies in the world were born in Southern Asia. It is contributed by multiple factors including maternal exposure to the elements in the environment during the antenatal period. Particulate matter (PM10) pollution in Southeast Asian region have been extensively studied with known attributions and sources. It is also known that PM10 is able to restrict foetal growth at molecular level. This review intends to investigate if the unborn in Asia are affected by air pollutants indirectly through their mothers. Methods Publications from Scopus and Science Direct digital databases in Asian region from 2015 onwards were reviewed. Details collected were the year of publication and study location, the study design, investigated air pollutants, exposure estimation methods used, the timing of exposure in relation to pregnancy, pregnancy outcome measured and the relative risk or odds of effect. Results A total of eight full text articles were included. Most of the studies were of cohort and quasi experimental designs, involving local air monitoring measurements to assign exposure. Conclusions There were more studies considered multiple air pollutants as contributing risk rather than a single pollutant. The exposure was measured according to stages of pregnancy and the trimester stratification is the most often method used. Modalities used in representing birth outcomes were not confined to birth weight alone but also included the length of gestation. Exposure to PM10 have been found to be associated with reduction in birth weight and increased risk for preterm birth in Asia.
Introduction: Teachers play a vital role in identifying students with dyslexia. The acquisition of this knowledge will help teachers to classify students who are at risk of dyslexia. The objective of this study is to identify the level of teachers’ knowledge about dyslexia that comprises of its general knowledge, diagnosis, symptoms and treatments. A cross sectional study was done upon 138 preschool teachers. This research was conducted by using ‘Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia’ questionnaire, which consists of 36 items with 3 Likert scale questions. Findings revealed that the level of general knowledge possessed by the pre-school teachers was relatively different based on the construct even though they have respectively received the Diploma in Early Childhood Education. On the same hand, most of the respondents were found to be having higher understanding on the general knowledge about dyslexia compared to their understanding on the symptoms, diagnosis and the treatments.