BACKGROUND: Understanding patients' knowledge and belief towards disease could play a vital role from an outcome perspective of disease management and HIV/AIDS patients are not exception to that.
METHODS: Qualitative methodology was used to explore Malaysian HIV/AIDS patients' perspectives on disease and status disclosure. A semi structured interview guide was used to interview the patients and a saturation point was reached after the 13th interview. All interviews were audio-recorded and subjected to a standard content analysis framework.
RESULTS: Understandings and beliefs towards HIV/AIDS and Perspective on disease disclosures were two main themes derived from patients' data. Beliefs towards causes and cure emerged as sub-themes under disease understandings while reasons for disclosure and non-disclosure were resulted as main sub-themes under disease disclosure. Majority of patients apprehended HIV/AIDS and its causes to acceptable extent, there were elements of spirituality and lack of education involved with such understandings. Though beliefs existed that knowing status is better than being ignorant, fear of stigma and discrimination, social consequences and family emotions were found important elements linked to disease non-disclosure.
CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes provided basic information about patients' perceptions towards disease and status disclosure among HIV/AIDS patients which can help in the designing and improvising existing strategies to enhance disease awareness and acceptance and will also serve as baseline data for future research further focusing on this subject.
BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is increasingly recognized as an important outcome and as a complement to traditional biological end points of diseases such as mortality. Unless there is a complete cure available for HIV/AIDS, development and implementation of a reliable and valid cross cultural quality of life measure is necessary to assess not only the physical and medical needs of HIV/AIDS people, but their psychological, social, environmental, and spiritual areas of life.
METHODS: A qualitative exploration of HIV/AIDS patients' understanding, perceptions and expectations will be carried out with the help of semi structured interview guide by in depth interviews, while quantitative assessment of patient reported adverse drug reactions and their impact on health related quality of life will be carried out by using data collection tool comprising patient demographics, SF-12, Naranjo scale, and a clinical data sheet.
RESULTS/OUTCOMES: The findings may serve as baseline QOL data of people living with HIV/AIDS in Malaysia and also a source data to aid construction of management plan to improve HIV/AIDS patients' QOL. It will also provide basic information about HIV/AIDS patients' perceptions, expectations and believes towards HIV/AIDS and its treatment which may help in designing strategies to enhance patients' awareness which in turn can help in addressing issues related to compliance and adherence.
KEYWORDS: HIV/AIDS; adverse drug reactions; patients' perspective; quality of life
OBJECTIVES: To assess the anticoagulation knowledge and international normalized ratio (INR) control among patients on warfarin.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 156 randomly sampled patients from physician- (non-medication therapy adherence clinic [non-MTAC]) and pharmacist (MTAC)-run anticoagulation clinics using a validated interviewer-administered questionnaire. Patients' INR readings from 2008 to 2010 were recorded.
RESULTS: Patients on warfarin scored an average of 66.5% ± 36.0% for their knowledge on how warfarin works, 42.9% ± 44.9% for interaction between warfarin and alcohol, and 49.2% ± 21.1% for adverse effects. No significant differences were found between MTAC and non-MTAC patients on their knowledge. There was a negative correlation between patients' knowledge and age (P = .001, r (s) = -.293) and a positive correlation between patients' knowledge and education level (P = .001, r (s) = .365). MTAC patients were found to have better INR control than non-MTAC when compared for mean percentage days in range (63.4% ± 18.9% vs 52.5% ± 18.2%; P = .006) and mean percentage visits in range (58.8% ± 17.9% vs 46.8% ± 18.6%; P = .001).
CONCLUSIONS: MTAC patients were found to have better INR control compared to non-MTAC patients. A joint cooperation between physicians, pharmacists, and nurses should exist to achieve desired therapeutic outcomes.
Study site: warfarin patients
attending the anticoagulation clinics
Suboptimal viral suppression and CD4 response to antiretroviral treatment (HAART) is known to cause poor outcomes with the increase cost of treatment. We aimed to assess factors associated with such control among HIV/AIDS patients in Malaysia. Four hundred and six HIV/AIDS patients, using Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) for at least the past three months, treated as outpatients at medication therapy adherence clinics (MTAC) were recruited. CD4 cell counts, viral load readings along with co-variants such as socio-demographic factors, adverse drug reactions, comorbidities, and medication record were obtained. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS(®) ) version 18 and STATA IC(®) version 12 were used for data analysis. CD4 counts were found highest among those within the age category 41-50 years (390.43 ± 272.28), female (402.64 ± 276.14), other ethnicities (400.20 ± 278.04), and participants with no formal education (414.87 ± 290.90). Patients experiencing adverse effects had a 2.28 (95%CI:1.25-4.18) fold greater risk of poor CD4 control, while patients with comorbidities had 2.46 (95%CI:1.02-5.91) fold greater risk of mild viral suppression. Adverse drug reactions, co-morbidities were found to be significantly associated with poor immunological and virological outcomes in HIV/AIDS patients. However, a comprehensive evaluation is needed to better understand other confounders.
Study site: Medication therapy adherence clinic, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
OBJECTIVE: The present study was aimed to evaluate the practices and attitudes of young Malaysian adults towards the use of antibiotics, and to determine the socioeconomic factors associated with the antibiotic use.
METHODS: A survey was carried in Cheras community by approaching a conveniently selected sample of 480 participants. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection.
RESULT: Of 480 participants approached, 400 agreed to participate in this study, giving a response rate of 83.3%. The study results showed that 42.75% of the participants exhibited poor attitudes towards antibiotic usage. Chinese race and high income were significantly associated with the positive attitudes towards antibiotic usage. It is shown that the practice of the participants towards antibiotics was relatively poor. The majority of participants agreed that they do not consult a doctor for minor illnesses (64%). The main reason for not consulting a doctor was the high fees of consultation (34.25%) and the inconvenience of visit (29.25%). However, a large proportion of respondents (77.5%) agreed that there is a need to enhance antibiotic education among public.
CONCLUSION: The study results identified some crucial gaps in the attitudes and practices of Cheras community about the use of antibiotics. Thus, improving the public knowledge and changing their attitude towards antibiotic use along with proper interventions to regulate the ease of their availability would play a significant role for the effective use of antibiotics in the community.