The maternal health status of Orang Asli women in Malaysia was noted to be lower as compared to other groups of population in the country. This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge, attitude and practice on antenatal care, which is a vital component of maternal health among the Orang Asli women in three Orang Asli villages in Jempol District, Negeri Sembilan. All women aged between 15 to 49 years old who had at least one antenatal experience were interviewed using a structured, pretested questionnaire. A total of 104 women were interviewed. Among them, 92.3% admitted attending antenatal clinic during their previous pregnancies while only 48.1% came early for their first check-up. About 70% of the women had history of home delivery and 44.2% had experienced at least one high risk pregnancy before. Study revealed that 44.2% (95% CI, 34.7 – 53.7%) of the women have good knowledge regarding antenatal care while 53.8% (95% CI, 44.3 – 63.1%) of them noted to have positive attitude regarding antenatal care. However, result showed that the level of knowledge regarding the importance of early antenatal care, screening test and complications of diabetes and hypertension in pregnancy were poor. In conclusion, the rate of home delivery and late antenatal booking was still high among the Orang Asli women and it is significantly associated with their attitude regarding antenatal care. These findings can be used to plan a customized health intervention program aiming to improve the maternal health practices and eventually improve the health status of the Orang Asli women
Study site: Orang Asli village, Jempol, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Objectives: Awareness of body image perception among children and adolescents has been rising during recent years. The objectives of this study were to identify body image dissatisfaction and its associated factors among primary-school students.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in seven randomly selected primary schools, involving students aged 11 to 12. A guided self-administered questionnaire, which included sociodemographic data, body mass index (BMI) parameters, and body image perception (Childress Contour Drawing Rating Scale), was used.
Results: This study involved 776 primary-school students. Approximately 60.1% of students had body image dissatisfaction, which was significantly (p