Background: Up to date, there are handful questionnaires that have been validated in Bahasa Malaysia (BM). This study aimed to translate the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21-item (DASS-21) and measure its psychometric properties. Objectives: To determine the construct validity and acceptability of the DASS, BM. Methods: Two forward and backward translations were done in BM in accordance to guideline, and its validation was determined by using confirmatory factor analysis. A total of 263 subjects were selected by systematic random sampling to represent Malaysian population for reliability and validity purposes. Results: The BM DASS-21 had very good Cronbach’s alpha values of .84, .74 and .79, respectively, for depression, anxiety and stress. In addition, it had good factor loading values for most items (.39 to .73). Correlations among scales were between .54 and .68. Conclusions: BM DASS-21 is correctly and adequately translated to Bahasa Malaysia with high psychometric properties. Further studies are required to support these findings.
Introduction: Little is known about anxiety symptoms among diabetic patients, especially among those who are living in rural areas in Malaysia. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the prevalence of anxiety among diabetic patients and factors associated with anxiety in rural communities in Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 464 diabetes mellitus patients in rural health districts and outpatient clinics in Malaysia was conducted. Each participant was interviewed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: Respondents consisted of 193 (41.6%) males and 271 (58.4%) females. The mean age of participants was 59.65 ± 10.16 years and the mean duration of diabetes mellitus was 6.9 ± 6.3 years. Results indicate that 15% of the participants have anxiety symptoms. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with history of ischemic heart disease and depression and those who were underweight have higher anxiety scores with adjusted OR 5.06 (95% CI 1.79 to 14.27), 27.71 (95% CI 14.23 to 53.98) and 14.6 (95% CI 2.49 to 84.82), respectively. Conclusions: This study suggests that although the prevalence of anxiety among diabetics is low, primary care physician should be trained to identify high risk patients and to manage their condition in order to improve the clinical outcome.
Study site: rural health districts and outpatient clinics in Malaysia
This study aimed to examine the association between second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure and psychological distress amongst non-smoking pregnant women. A cross-sectional study was used to obtain a representative sample of non-smoking pregnant women attending health clinics (n = 661) across six states in Malaysia. The duration of SHS exposure inside and outside the house was recorded from the participants. Psychological distress was assessed via General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12). The analyses were conducted using a logistic regression adjusted for demographic variables and other variables. Amongst non-smoking pregnant women, the prevalence of global SHS exposure and psychological distress was 80.4% and 64.2%, respectively. In the multivariate adjusted odds ratio (OR) models for psychological distress and the duration of SHS exposures, there was an OR of 1.04 (95% CI: 0.61-1.77) for individuals with SHS exposure of 1-4 hours/week, 0.44 (95% CI: 0.23-0.81) for SHS exposure of 5-14 hours/week and 0.84 (95% CI: 0.32-2.22) for exposures of >15 hours/week compared to those with no SHS exposure outside the home. Meanwhile, SHS exposure outside the house with the duration of 5-14 hours might have temporary calming effects against psychological distress. Nonetheless, more research is needed to ascertain this.