Introduction: Loneliness is a major social problem among the elderly that has gone through almost all countries in the world. Even though loneliness is seen as the health-threatening but, the loneliness assessment is still marginal- ized in routine medical check-up for every senior citizen. Methods: This is a sequential explanatory mixed-method study with a cross-sectional community survey was conducted among 380 community residence elderly followed by in-depth interview among eight respondents. This study aims to measure the loneliness and to explore loneliness experienced by older adults. Data were collected using the short form of Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S) and data were analysed using SPSS (version 23.0) for windows. In the qualitative study, eight re- spondents were interviewed face-to-face and data were analysed using thematic analysis Braun and Clarke (2006). Results: The results revealed that 37.2% of respondents had loneliness. Bivariate analyses showed the age, level of education and marital status were significantly associated with loneliness. The results of multiple logistic regression discovered gender (OR=1.75,95%CI:1.04-2.93; p=0.03) and marital status (OR=2.24,95%CI: 1.33-3.77;p= 0.002) were a significant predictor of loneliness. In a qualitative study, the result showed two main themes were recorded as causes of loneliness among the elderly are ‘changing the lifestyles’ and ‘ineffective communications. The sub-themes included ‘loss of someone who significant’, ‘limited physical mobility’, ‘all alone’ and ‘no support’. Conclusion: The issue of loneliness needs critically to be addressed even though Malaysia has not reached the ‘aging population’, but the loneliness prevalence experienced by the older adult has similarities with other countries that have attained that status.
Introduction:HPV vaccination is considered to be the primary form of cervical cancer prevention. However, the practice of HPV vaccination in Malaysia was not satisfied based on low vaccination rate among Malaysian. The health personal play a major roles in this scenario hence; this study was conducted to determine the knowledge and awareness on human papillomavirus vaccination and its relationship with socio –demographic among final year nursing and medical students in University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center. Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted in the faculty of medicine, University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center. Two hundred and thirty four students were recruited using universal sampling equivalent to 86% respondent rate. Data was collected using self-administered structured questionnaires contains three sections. Pearson Chi-square analyses were used to de-termine the relationship between various socio-demographic factors and outcome variables namely knowledge and awareness on HPV vaccination. Results: Findings indicates that most of the respondents (85.9%) had a high level knowledge and (100%) awareness on HPV vaccination. Among the socio-demographic factors, respondents’ race (p=0.006) and marital status (p=0.0006) were associated with knowledge while, there were significant relationship between awareness and gender (p=0.0001). Conclusion: It can be concluded, that final year nursing and medical students had high knowledge and awareness on HPV vaccination. Race and marital status affected the knowledge while gender and family history of cervical cancer are significant predictors for awareness on HPV vaccination.
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is very crucial for the health of infant as well as mother. However, the prevalence of
exclusive breastfeeding is very low especially among working mother. Since the prevalence of EBF might be influenced by
the level of knowledge on EBF, researcher comes to critical thinking to conduct this study to evaluate level of knowledge
on EBF among working mother. A cross sectional design study was carried out to determine knowledge level on exclusive
breastfeeding among working mother, and its relationship with demographic data in Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz
(HCTM). A total 283 respondents were recruited to participate in this study. The respondents’ knowledge level on exclusive
breastfeeding was identified using Kim & Chapman (2013) Questionnaire on Knowledge and Practice about Exclusive
Breastfeeding. The result showed that majority of the respondents (56.9%) had high knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding.
For demographic data, factors such as age, level of education, and family income had shown a significant association (p
< 0.05) with level of knowledge on exclusive breastfeeding. In conclusion, the level of knowledge of EBF was identified
among working mother, yet it has been influenced by mother’s sociodemographic background
Introduction: Antenatal knowledge is associated with positive outcome for pregnant women as it provides infor- mation to allow them to identify any problems during pregnancy. Studies have underlined the problems of the information overload is possible during an antenatal class, it is unclear to what extend information given during an- tenatal class are retain by mother, thus the need for this study. Methods: This is a quasi-pre-post experimental study involving 82 participants. Baseline pre and post knowledge on antenatal class was evaluated among respondents using validate questionnaires. T-test was used to determine the relationship between various socio-demographic factors and knowledge of respondents. Results: Chi-square test used to test pre and post knowledge score. There was a significant increase in the difference between before and after antenatal classes run against the knowledge. In addition, the study found no significant difference for participants who are professional and non-professional and level of education. Conclusion: This study concludes thatthe antenatal classes run in HCTM shows a positive im- pact in improving maternal care during pregnancy, childbirth and care after birth. It is best to suggest that to increase promotion and information regarding antenatal classes so that pregnant women and couple could attend and get the benefit from the class.