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Women's motivation towards Pap smear screening based on sexual and screening status: A cross-sectional study using protection motivation theory

Romli R, Abd Rahman R, Mohd Hashim S, Chew KT, Mohamad EMW, Mohammed Nawi A

J Educ Health Promot, 2023;12:357.
PMID: 38144028 DOI: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_1842_22

INTRODUCTION: Cervical cancer remains a reproductive health burden. Pap smear (PS) screening can detect cervical cancer early but is underused despite being subsidized. Motivational factors play a role in promoting PS screening. This study aimed to determine the women's motivation toward PS screening based on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), which mainly focused on sexual and screening status.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted electronically throughout Malaysia from January to February 2022 by disseminating Google Form (https://forms.gle/cD7fkUKYR4Cq6kZC8) via multiple WhatsApp groups to reach 526 women aged 21-65 years. The questionnaire consists of 24 items based on seven PMT constructs [perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, self-efficacy, response efficacy, fear (threat appraisal), response costs (coping appraisal), and protection motivation]. The descriptive statistics and independent t-test was used to analyze data using IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 25.
RESULTS: Most respondents were sexually active [80.6% (n = 424)] and have heard of PS screening [95.8% (n = 504)]. More than half of respondents did not have PS screening in the last three years [59.3% (n = 312)]. Sexually active women have heard and have undergone PS screening feel less threatened with low coping appraisals. Undergoing PS screening made women perceived more response efficacy (P =. 011), more self-efficacy (P
Fulltext Understanding cervical cancer screening motivations from women and health practitioners' perspectives: A qualitative exploration

Romli R, Mohd Hashim S, Abd Rahman R, Chew KT, Mohamad EMW, Mohammed Nawi A

Gynecol Oncol Rep, 2024 Apr;52:101349.
PMID: 38435346 DOI: 10.1016/j.gore.2024.101349

PURPOSE: Cervical cancer (CC) screening remains challenging, where the motivational focus towards utilizing CC screening services is rarely highlighted. This study aimed to understand the motivation to undergo CC screening from women and healthcare practitioners' perspectives based on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT).
METHOD: This qualitative study used the nominal group technique (NGT) and in-depth interview (IDI), where the NGT participants were healthcare practitioners from various disciplines (n = 12). Nominal group discussions were conducted via Zoom and involved one moderator, facilitator and observer. The IDI was conducted via Google Meet among seven women who had been included based on purposive sampling. All nominal group discussions and interviews were transcribed, verbatim and underwent deductive thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Healthcare practitioners emphasized input on CC knowledge of epidemiology, risk, etiology, nature, and outcome to encourage motivation. Women underlined their important role in the family, and reducing the negative perception as a motivational focus. Having living example of witnessing the CC patient dying and fear of stigma of cancer could be the driven force to undergo screening. Emphasis on the important of sufficient knowledge and correct the misconceptions towards screening could impart the motivation among women.
CONCLUSIONS: The motivational focus was enriched by the differing perspectives of the healthcare practitioners and women. The findings can guide intervention program development towards enhancing CC screening in the future.
Fulltext Establishing the HLS-M-Q18 short version of the European health literacy survey questionnaire for the Malaysian context

Mohamad EMW, Kaundan MK, Hamzah MR, Azlan AA, Ayub SH, Tham JS, et al.

BMC Public Health, 2020 Apr 28;20(1):580.
PMID: 32345285 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-020-08704-7

BACKGROUND: The European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47) is becoming a widely used tool to measure health literacy (HL), including in Malaysia. There are efforts to reduce the 47-item scale to parsimonious short item scales that still reflect the assumptions and requirements of the conceptual model. This study used confirmatory factor analysis to reduce the 47-item scale to a short scale that can offer a feasible HL screening tool with sufficient psychometric properties.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on the Malaysian population based on ethnic distribution to ensure that the short version instrument reflects the country's varied ethnicities. The survey was administered by well-trained interviewers working for the Ministry of Health Malaysia. A total of 866 responses were obtained. Data was analysed using multi-factorial confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with categorical variables.

RESULTS: The analysis resulted in a satisfactory 18-item model. There were high correlations among the 18 items. The internal consistency reliability was robust, with no floor/ceiling effects. These results represented equivalence and consistency among the responses to items, suggesting that these items were homogenous in measuring Malaysian health literacy. The strong convergent and discriminant validity of the model makes the proposed 18 items a suitable short version of the health literacy instrument for Malaysia.

CONCLUSIONS: The researchers propose the 18-item instrument to be named HLS-M-Q18. This short version instrument may be used in measuring health literacy in Malaysia as it achieved robust reliability, structural validity and construct validity that fulfilled goodness-of-fit criteria.
Fulltext Malaysian Health Literacy: Scorecard Performance from a National Survey

Jaafar N, Perialathan K, Krishnan M, Juatan N, Ahmad M, Mien TYS, et al.

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2021 05 28;18(11).
PMID: 34071455 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18115813

Health literacy is an indicator of a society's ability to make better health judgements for themselves and the people around them. This study investigated the prevalence of health literacy among Malaysian adults and provided an overall picture of the society's current health literacy status, which has not been previously assessed. The study also highlighted socio-demographic markers of communities with limited health literacy that may warrant future intervention. A population-based self-administered survey using the Health Literacy Survey Malaysian Questionnaire18 (HLS-M-Q18) instrument was conducted as part of the National Health Morbidity Survey 2019 in Malaysia. The nationwide survey utilized a two-staged stratified random sampling method. A sample of 9478 individuals aged 18 and above, drawn from the living quarter list, participated in the study. The health literacy score was divided into three levels; limited, sufficient, and excellent. Findings showed a majority of the Malaysian population had a sufficient health literacy level in all three domains-healthcare, diseases prevention and health promotion (49.1%, 44.2%, and 47.5%, respectively)-albeit leaning towards the lower end of the category with an average score of 35.5. The limited health literacy groups were prevalent among respondents with older age (68%), lower education level (64.8%), and lower household income (49.5%). The overall health literacy status for Malaysia was categorized at a lower sufficiency level. Future health literacy improvements should focus on communities with a limited health literacy level to improve the overall score.