Introduction: Fewer men were engaged in taking responsibility of their own health. Previous evidence showed that the roles of masculinity, self-rated health status, social support and health literacy level affecting health seeking behaviour among men. However, there is still lack of evidence in Malaysia. The objective of this study was to deter-mine the factors influencing health seeking behaviours among male university students. Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Recommended sample size was 360 respondents. Out of eight faculties, using EXCEL randomization technique, first 4 faculties were selected. The selected faculties were Faculty of Business and Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Language and Communication. Based on the name list given from each faculty, alternate names very selected to participate. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire. Results: 354 male students participated in this study. Total of 259(73.2%) students were reported to have low overall health seeking behaviour. Chi-square analysis showed of all the variables, there was correlation between health literacy level (r = 0.149, n = 354, p
Introduction: Rabies is a highly fatal disease that is mostly caused by a dog bite. The Dog Bite Prevention KAP scale is a 30-item scale that is designed to measure children’s level of safety knowledge on dog’s behaviour, precautionary behaviour around dogs, perceived vulnerability towards dogs and help-seeking behaviour following a dog bite. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the test-retest reliability and validity of outcome measures
Methods: This questionnaire was administered to samples of school student aged from 13 years to 14 years at a secondary school located in Bau District, Sarawak. They were purposively selected for a baseline interview (Time 1) anda ten-day follow-up (Time 2). This study was conducted within four months, which were from 10 April to 31 August 2018. Descriptive analysis, content analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, intra-class correlation and exploratory factor analysis were performed in thisstudy.Results: A total of 64 boys and 114 girls were involved in the study, whereby 79.2%, 10.1%, 7.9%, 2.2% and 0.6% of them were of Bidayuh ethnic, Chinese, Iban, Malays and other ethnic, respectively. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.796. The test-retest intra-class correlation was adequate, with 0.84 for perceived vulnerability towards dogs and 0.81 for precautionary behaviour around dogs. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation resulted in two factors, which explained 39% of the variance (perceived vulnerability towards dogs) and 49% of the variance (precautionary behaviour around dogs)
Conclusion: The questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for a dog-bite prevention survey
BACKGROUND: Overweight and obesity rates among adolescents have increased substantially over the years. This study aimed to determine the body mass index (BMI) of students and parents and the relationship among media use, BMI, socio-demographic profiles, and snacking behaviour during television watching of secondary school students in Kuching South City.
METHODS: In accordance with the two-stage sampling method, a total of 316 adolescents aged 13-17 years from 7 secondary schools participated. Data were collected using questionnaire and anthropometric measurement. Independent t test, one-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U test, and chi-square test were performed.
RESULTS: The mean BMI was 20.56 kg/m(2) (SD 4.33) for boys and 20.15 kg/m(2) (SD 3.91) for girls. No significant difference in terms of z score for BMI-for-age or socio-demographic factors was found. The mean duration of time devoted to media use was 4.69 hours (SD 2.93) on weekdays and 5.69 hours (SD 2.87) on weekends. Boys were found to spend more hours on media use than did the girls (t = 4.293, P < 0.01). Respondents were reported to consume more cereal compared with soft drinks and junk foods. Respondents whose fathers worked in the private sector devoted the fewest hours to media use, whereas those with self-employed fathers devoted the most time to media use. Respondents with mothers who were employed spent more time on media use than did respondents whose mothers were housewives (F = 4.067, P < 0.01). No significant difference was found between BMI and media time or snacking habits.
CONCLUSION: This finding indicated that media time has no effect on body weight, because respondents were found to have normal weight and to consume less unhealthy food.
KEYWORDS: adolescent; behaviour; body mass index; public health; urban population