Introduction Elderly are often associated with multiple social and health problems. Family members are important in helping them doing their daily activities. For elderly diabetics, family support has a role in diabetes management and glucose control. The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of elderly diabetics regarding the role of family support on their glucose control.
Methods This qualitative technique was a part of the study on glucose control and its associated factors among elderly diabetics. It was conducted from February until May 2009 in Kulim. Ten respondents were purposively sampled based on their glucose control. HbA1c 6.5% or less was considered as good glucose control. In depth interview, using semi-structured interview guide was used in this study. The conversation had been taped, transcribed to verbatim and analyzed manually using thematic analysis.
Results All ten respondents perceived that family support did not play a role on their glucose control. They believed that self-awareness and self-determination were important to control the glucose level. Those with good glucose control practiced healthy diet, and not affected by food prepared by their family members compared to those with poor glucose control. However, both groups claimed that, they did not receive much advice from their family members and no special food was prepared for them. Conclusions Elderly diabetics should be motivated on self-determination and focusing on good glucose control. Health education should be given to patients and their family members to increase their diabetes knowledge especially on useful advice and proper food preparation. It could motivate the elderly diabetics to control their glucose level.
In a time of rising demands on hospital reimbursement levels, focus on efficient operations is becoming more imperative. In health care systems, the measurement of efficiency is usually the first step in auditing individual performance of production units, e.g. hospitals, health centers, etc. It constitutes the rational framework for the distribution of human and other resources between and within health care facilities. The term efficiency is broadly used in economics and refers to the best utilization of resources in production. Typical example of efficiency is technical efficiency, referring to the effective use of resources in producing outputs. In the Farrell framework, a hospital is judged to be technically efficient if it is operating on the best practice production frontier in its hospital industry. In general, there are two main frontier methods in measuring efficiency. The first is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a linear programming method which enables the measurement of efficiency consistent with the theoretically based concept of production efficiency. DEA typically examines the relationship between inputs to a production process and the outputs of that process. The second technique for assessing efficiency that is employed is Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). This is an econometric technique to estimate a conventional function; with the difference being that efficiency is measured using the residuals from the estimated equation. The error term is therefore divided into a stochastic error term and a systematic inefficiency term.
Cervical cancer is the seventh most common cancer among women in Iraq. This study aimed to assess the factors influencing Pap smear practice among married primary school teachers in Diyala City, Iraq. A total of 222 teachers (aged 20 years to 63 years) residing in Diyala City were enrolled in a cross sectional study from 1st August till 30th September 2012. The sampling method was a self-administered survey using a multistage sampling technique. The prevalence of Pap smear practice was very low (12.6%). Relatives and friends were the main source of information about the Pap smear test for more than one third (41.9%) of the respondents. However, the medical doctor’s advice was the most important reason for undergoing a Pap smear test in more than two third (60.7%) of respondents. Only 32.4% of the teachers have good knowledge about cervical cancer and Pap smear test, but 76.1% of them showed a positive attitude toward learning about cervical cancer and Pap smear. Based on multiple logistic regression analysis results only the husband’s encouragement (p= 0.003, prevalence odds ratio [POR] = 0.256, 95%CI 0.10-0.63) was significantly associated with Pap smear practice. A more effective educational program is needed to educate Iraqi women about cervical cancer and screening tests, including Pap smear.
Floods can lead to direct economic and property losses and result not only in physical injuries and deaths but
also in psychological trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a commonly used indicator to evaluate
psychological injuries after disaster. This study aimed to determine the relationship between PTSD prevalence
and related perceived severity of post flood impact by economical, non-economical and flood status severity
domains besides relevant socio-demographic factors according to gender specific analysis. This cross-sectional
study was conducted among community in Kampung Hulu Takir, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia in 2015 two
weeks after flood. It included a total of 98 males and 110 females aged 18 years and above. Data was
collected by interview-guided questionnaire to determine the prevalence of PTSD. SPSS version 21.0 was used
for analysis of the relationship between socio demographic factors, perceived economic, non-economic and
flood severity with PTSD. Finally chi square test was used to assess the predictors of PTSD according to
gender. The prevalence of PTSD was 9.2% in males and 10.9% in females, giving a total of 10.1%. Significantly
higher prevalence of PTSD was found in severely perceived economic and flood impact categories (33.3% and
23.8% in males; 23.8 % and 37.5% in females) and giving in overall 44.0% and 31.3 % respectively. Effective
PTSD management strategies targeting females post flood victims who severely perceived economically and
nature flood impact should be implemented in order to prevent further consequences of PTSD.
One of the best ways to evaluate persons’ health quality is through measuring their Quality of Life (QoL). The QoL concept gained rapid popularity over the last four decades in assessing health. It has been used as the sole endpoint in studies designed specifically to develop a positive physical or mental well-being of sick people. The purpose of this review is to address the needs of a new Islam-specific health-related QoL instruments for Muslim patients. A literature search was conducted using electronic databases. For the purpose of the review, QoL domains from WHOQOL SRPB instrument was referred. The identified QoL instruments were then reviewed for their domains and dimensions included in it. At present, there is no specific QoL instrument to assess health-related QoL among Muslim patients’ despite being fastest-growing religion and contribute 23% of the world population. Muslims believes that Islam is a comprehensive way of life which puts religiosity and spirituality as an essential part of life. In addition, QoL is regarded as an important aspect in health care by the World Health Organization (WHO) and spiritual well-being is one of the WHO QoL dimensions. To date, no instrument has been developed to measure QoL specifically according to Islamic perspective. Hence a specific assessment tool of health-related QoL for this growing world population is highly needed. Islam is not only a religion but it’s a way of life and QoL should be beyond the religion perspectives. Therefore, this paper will present the gap found in the review of the existing QoL instruments. Identifying this gap will enable us to develop a tool which is more sensitive to the Muslim population.
Objective: Truancy is a disciplinary problem, which frequently occurs among school students and it has many contributory as well as inter-related factors. It is a growing problem in this country and it often becomes a prelude to other delinquent behaviours. The study objective is to determine the prevalence of truancy as well as factors related to it including psycho-behavioural factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 556 Malay student’s selected using multi-stage sampling was conducted. Results: The overall prevalence of truancy is 30.2%. The predictors to truancy are age, students who frequenting entertainment centre, students who have not completed Quran recital, coping strategies using problems solving methods and time spent watching television/video. There is a significant association between truancy and psycho-behaviour such as watching video/internet pornography, frequenting entertainment centre, smoking, motorcycle racing and dating a special friend. Conclusion: Truancy is a social issue, which must be given serious attention by all concerned components of the society.
The communities settled in this traditional flood-prone area are potentially at risk of frequent inundation. This
compelled the affected population to cope or adapt some strategy to reduce the negative impacts on their lives. The
objective of this study was to explore the coping approach among the residents in a flood affected traditional village in
Kuala Nerus, Terengganu and determine its associated factors. A cross sectional study which involved 210 adults who
lived in traditional village houses was conducted from April to May 2015. Universal sampling was applied. This
community-based study was part of the curriculum requirement for undergraduate medical students of UniSZA. The
participants’ background, experience during the recent flood and their coping response were assessed using selfadministered
validated Malay version Brief COPE inventory that consists of three domains (emotion-focused, problemfocused
and less-useful), 14 subscales and 30 items. The mean (SD) age of participants were 46.7(15.54) years with
almost equal sex ratio. Most of the participants were married (78.1%) and unemployed (54.8%). The most common coping
approach applied by the villagers was emotion-focused followed by problem-focused and less-useful coping. There were
four adjusted variables significantly associated with higher total coping score namely awareness on evacuation site
(b=5.38, 95%CI:1.68,9.08, p=0.005), knowledge on health risk of flood (b=3.79, 95%CI:0.92,6.66, p=0.010), discussed on
flood preparedness with family (b=2.50, 95%CI:0.84,4.16, p=0.003) and stored food before flood (b=4.506, 95%CI
1.67,7.34, p=0.002). The emotion-focused coping was the most preferred coping approach among the villagers. A
significant better coping was associated with the villagers who were aware of the gazetted evacuation site and have
knowledge on the flood health hazard. The villagers who planned with their family and practiced storage of adequate
food as part of household preparedness also demonstrated significant higher coping level.
Worldwide prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents increased substantially over decades. Addressing potential risk factors of obesity among adolescents is very important for a successful intervention program in this population. The present study aimed to identify the sociodemographic determinants of obesity among school adolescents in Terengganu. A cross-sectional survey involving 3,798 school adolescents age 12 years old from 136 government primary schools in Kuala Terengganu and Besut districts were carried out from November 2014 to June 2015. For the purpose of this paper, the data for 2,842 school adolescents classified as either normal BMI (< +1SD) (n= 2,305) or obese (+2SD) (n= 537) based on WHO cut-off points were taken for analysis. Sociodemographic information on subjects and their parents were obtained from self-reported questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were conducted by Physical Education teachers and uploaded into a specific developed database. The prevalence of obesity was relatively high in both genders in this study. Binary logistic regression analysis found gender, parental BMI, household income, household size and maternal working status were independently associated with obesity among school adolescents in this population. In the final model, being male, having working mother, and having obese parents were identified to be potential risk factors for obesity whilst having large household size lower the risk of obesity among these adolescents. Prevention programs are needed to increase awareness about the risk factors of obesity in adolescent and interventions should now focus on family member as well mainly the parents.
Worldwide prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents increased substantially over decades. Addressing potential risk factors of obesity among adolescents is very important for a successful intervention program in this population. The present study aimed to identify the sociodemographic determinants of obesity among school adolescents in Terengganu. A cross-sectional survey involving 3,798 school adolescents age 12 years old from 136 government primary schools in Kuala Terengganu and Besut districts were carried out from November 2014 to June 2015. For the purpose of this paper, the data for 2,842 school adolescents classified as either normal BMI (< +1SD) (n= 2,305) or obese (+2SD) (n= 537) based on WHO cut-off points were taken for analysis. Sociodemographic information on subjects and their parents were obtained from self-reported questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were conducted by Physical Education teachers and uploaded into a specific developed database. The prevalence of obesity was relatively high in both genders in this study. Binary logistic regression analysis found gender, parental BMI, household income, household size and maternal working status were independently associated with obesity among school adolescents in this population. In the final model, being male, having working mother, and having obese parents were identified to be potential risk factors for obesity whilst having large household size lower the risk of obesity among these adolescents. Prevention programs are needed to increase awareness about the risk factors of obesity in adolescent and interventions should now focus on family member as well mainly the parents.
Delay in help-seeking behaviour which is potentially preventable has a major effect on the prognosis and survival of patients with breast cancer. The objective of this study was to explore reasons for delay in seeking help among patients with breast cancer from the East Coast of peninsular Malaysia. A qualitative study using face- to-face in-depth interview was carried out involving 12 breast cancer patients who had been histo-pathologically confirmed and were symptomatic on presentation. Respondents were selected purposely based on their history of delayed consultation, diagnosis or treatment. All were of Malay ethnicity and the age range was 26-67 years. Three were in stage ll, seven in stage lll and two in stage lV. At the time of interview, all except one respondent had accepted treatment. The range of consultation time was 0.2-72.2 months with a median of 1.7 months, diagnosis time was 1.4-95.8 months( median 5.4 months )and treatment time was 0-33.3 months (median 1.2 months). The themes derived from the study were poor knowledge or awareness of breast cancer, fear of cancer consequences, beliefs in complementary alternative medicine, sanction by others, other priorities, denial of disease, attitude of wait and see and health care system weakness. Help-seeking behaviour was influenced by a complex interaction of cognitive, environmental, beliefs, culture and psycho-social factors. Breast cancer awareness and psychological counselling are recommended for all patients with breast symptoms to prevent delay in seeking clinical help.