The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the validity and reliability of Cognitive Therapy Group Intervention (CTGI) which focuses on the elements of resilience among adolescents with behavioural problems. It is developed based on Cognitive Theory (comment: it’d be more sufficient if you can mention whose theory) and Sidek Module Development Model and consists of eight interventions. Cognitive Therapy Intervention (CTI) manuscripts and a five-item questionnaires were distributed to five content experts to determine the intervention’s validity. The findings reported the validity index of 0.87. The target group were thirty-two adolescents chosen to measure the reliability of each intervention by evaluating the objectives in each intervention session. As a result, a reliability index of 0.85 was obtained. From these two indexes, it is proven that the Cognitive Therapy Group Intervention (CTGI) possesses high validity and good reliability and is ready to be put to use. This implies that, counselling interventions in schools are required in working with adolescents with at risk behaviours.
Alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness are essential skills in learning to read. This research examined the level of acquisition on alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness among 60 preschoolers from private and public preschools in Kuching, Sarawak. The mean age of the children was 5.58. The children were administered letter name and sound knowledge, and letter naming fluency tests to examine their alphabetic knowledge; Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing and Yopp-Singer Phoneme Segmentation Test to examine their phonological awareness. Higher achievement in alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness was found among preschoolers from private preschools compared to those from public preschools. This study discusses the implications for practice and ways teachers could explicitly foster alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness skills in classroom.
The purpose of this study was to study the association between selected demographic characters
and stress among primary school teachers. The respondents constituted of 60 male
and female school teachers who were chosen using stratified sampling technique. Study was
conducted in Jilin Province. Study design was cross sectional. SPSS was used to analyze
both descriptive and inferential statistics. The main results were as follows. Female teachers
experienced more stress compared to male teachers. Teachers below the age of 40 had more
stress probably, due to teaching experience, as this study revealed that teachers who had
more teaching experience had less stress. Marriage plays and important role in stress, unmarried
teachers experienced comparatively higher levels of stress compared to those married.
Furthermore, those living alone experienced more stress. Occupational stress is known
to cause burnout. It may be a good strategy to provide training in stress management techniques
This study aims to investigate competency profiling and determine if technological change act as a mediator in the relationship between the identified factors and employee competency in selected industries in Kuching, Sarawak. It is also to develop the best fit model based on the variables selected. The four identified variables are teamwork, organizational culture, change management, and technological change. The sample of this study were 302 respondents selected through a simple random sampling. The findings showed that there is a positive effect between teamwork, organizational culture, change management, and technological change as mediator towards employee competency. This study provides positive implications, such as, improving competency process in organizational setting, improving policy and related action plan regarding human resource practices on competency.
This study aims to identify employee perceptions of perceived fairness in performance appraisal system and work performance as the performance appraisal system is crucial to evaluate employees’ performance in every organization; public or private. A private Oil & Gas company in Miri, Sarawak was chosen for this study. Quantitative research method was employed in this study, and closed-ended questionnaires were used to collect data from respondents. Statistical analysis using One Way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and Independent sample t-test were used to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that there were no significance differences between the selected demographic factors (age, gender, duration of service, highest educational level, and rank) in performance appraisal system and the work performance. Also, there was a significant relationship between the rating accuracy in the performance appraisal system and work performance. Besides that, there was a significant relationship between employee perceptions of leadership styles in decision making in the performance appraisal system and work performance. The findings also showed that employees are concerned with the evaluation and rating given by their supervisor because the outcomes of the performance appraisal will influence their career development in the organization. Thus, performance appraisal system is crucial in increasing the work performance of employees and organization. Organizations should emphasize the role of the performance appraisal system practiced in their organizations and recognize that it is important in improving employees’ performance. Future researchers are encouraged to explore further on the performance appraisal elements that have not been investigated in this study, and conduct the research with a bigger population and sample size.
This study aims to examine the relationship between mentoring program, personality and mentee outcomes. One hundred respondents from different faculties in one of the universities in East Malaysia were involved in this study. Pearson Correlation was employed to determine the relationship between mentoring program and mentee outcomes, personality and mentee outcomes, mentoring program and psychological and emotional support. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between mentoring program and mentee outcomes. Multiple Regressions was used to assess whether personality act as a moderator between mentoring program and mentee outcomes. The findings indicated that personality moderates the relationship between mentoring program and mentee outcomes. The findings of this research are beneficial for mentoring program in universities in Malaysia, especially, in ensuring better mentoring outcomes. Implication of this research on organization and individuals was also discussed.
The purpose of this study is to assess the relative fairness of selected educational accommodations provided to peers who have disabilities. This study utilized two scales developed by Upton (2000) which quantifies the relative fairness that students perceive towards the provision of selected educational accommodations. The findings of this study yielded evidence to support that level of education at a university level might have an influence on the students’ perceptions about educational accommodations offered to the students with disabilities. These surveys were distributed to around 409 students at a mid-size southern public university in the United States. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are provided.
evaluating training effectiveness based on Kirkpatrick’s criteria of training reactions, learning, behavior change, and overall results. In recent years, in-depth review of Kirkpatrick’s criteria for training evaluation by theorists and researchers resulted in renewed interest in possible underlying dimensions and more operationalized measures of these factors. In this study, a hypothesized model is proposed to explain the effects of training reactions on learning outcomes and training transfer. Path analysis is carried out on data collected from 118 participants of a training course on operational housekeeping to examine the validity of the proposed model. Training reactions is considered in terms of affective reactions and utility reactions, and learning is considered in terms of declarative learning and application-based learning. Moderate effects between affective reactions, declarative learning, and training transfer are observed; while the links between affective reactions and utility reactions, and between declarative learning and application-based learning appeared to be more significant.
This study aims to determine the relationship between working arrangements and quality of work life (QWL) among academicians in a selected public institution of higher learning in Kuching, Sarawak. A survey methodology was used in this study. This research involves the utilization of questionnaire which was administered among one-hundred and fifty (151) academicians currently working in a selected public institution in Kuching, Sarawak. The relationship between flexible working arrangements and quality of work life was analyzed using the Pearson’s Correlation analysis test. The results of this study revealed that there is a significant relationship between long working arrangement and flexible working arrangements with QWL. Hence, if organizations are concerned about developing their human resources and gaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace, it is necessary that they attend to one of their most precious assets, namely, their human resources by practicing flexible working arrangements.
Shift work alters workers exposure to natural and artificial light, sleep patterns, and feeding
patterns. Among other working population, shift workers are at a greater risk of developing
metabolic impairments over time. Hence, this study aimed to study the relationship between
workers’ health and night shift work in food franchise industry in Kuching, Sarawak. The
independent variables are sleep pattern, mental health, psychological well-being, circadian
rhythm, and insomnia, while the dependent variable is night shift work. Questionnaires were
distributed using convenience sampling techniques and a total of 59 questionnaires were collected.
Pearson Correlations test. showed that there is a significant relationship between
workers’ health and night shift work. The implications on this research shows that there are
more researches on the mitigation of health risk on shift workers.
The objective of this study is to identify the perceptions of Generation Y employees regarding
work-life balance practices. As increasing numbers of Generation Y enter the workforce,
questions regarding how they perceive work, family and self-related issues, challenges and
coping strategies in balancing personal and professional commitments became issues of interests
for employers. This study uses interviews to collect data from six informants in Generation
Y and the data were analyzed through content analysis. The results indicate that Generation
Y employees do indeed have issues and challenges with balancing work and family.
However, unlike the older generation of employees, Generation Y employees perceive managing
work-life balance only through segmentation or separation strategies. This particular
finding indicates that if organizations want to attract and retain these employees they should
adapt a strategy specifically designed to target this employee group.
Like many other parts of the globe, in Malaysia, construction industry has a vital support to
the national economy, even though statistics indicates that, at the same time, it is an extremely
risky profession due to high accident rate. In addition, current evidences suggest that, in
general, safety in Sarawak construction industries lack attention. As, human behavior is regarded
as the principal component that contributes to accidents in this industry, this study
intends to explore existing barriers in development and maintaining safety performance behavior
as well as possible coping strategies. A qualitative analysis of in-depth interview (N=4)
among different levels of professions within industries in Kuching, Sarawak reveals that,
price sensitive subcontracting, short-term projects, irregular cash flow, dependency on larger
companies, less managerial and supervisory engagement, and priority on progress alone create
obstacles for safety behavior. On the other hand, possibly, the challenges can be managed
through integration of safety into contracts as compliance, associated disbursement, and introducing
incentives.
This study investigates the viability of using a phonics programme for Primary One students
who are studying at a National Type Chinese School in Sarawak, Malaysia. Jolly Phonics is
a Synthetic Phonics Programme that is used to address common reading problems. In this
study, Primary One students who learn Mandarin as their main language in school, while
learning English and Malay Languages at the same time. The phonics consists of teaching
reading with five skills, namely learning the letter sounds, letter formation, blending, segmenting
and tricky words. 39 students participated in the study. Two groups were formed to
compare performances between those who used the phonic programme and those who attended
the regular English classes. Data was collected on pre and post-test achievements for
both the experimental and control group. Findings revealed that the phonics programme did
not significantly impact the students’ reading ability when compared with performances of
those who attended regular lessons which used existing methods of teaching reading skills for
English language learning at the Chinese medium school.
Using games as a context for assessing children’s mathematical abilities is not unusual, but
this study investigated the potential of games designed specifically for the purpose of assessment.
Children in prior-to-school settings in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, were exposed to a
range of such games, including the how many hidden game, which focuses on number sense,
which is the subject of this paper. Children’s responses while playing the game were recorded,
and we report the range of successful responses to the game, as well as the age of the children
involved.
One of the world's leading causes of death among teenagers aged 15-29 is suicide. Students of higher institutions also involved in the specific group that was reported to have a high level of suicidal ideation. Thus, in order to overcome this issue, all factors that influence suicidal ideation should be identified. This article is intended to identify the factor that influences suicidal ideation among higher learning education students based on their perceptions. This study was conducted using a qualitative method using semi-structured interview questions to explore participants’ perceptions towards suicidal ideation among students of higher learning institutions. As for data collection method, two focus group discussions were identified as main instrument. The findings show that factors identified to influence the existence of suicidal ideation among students of higher learning institutions can be categorized into two categories, external factors, and internal factors. These factors are peer pressure, pressure from society, social media influences, family factors, financial factors, intrapersonal and individual interpersonal factors, and low self-esteem factor. This study also found that counsellors and other professional bodies such as psychologists were not the choices of participants to express a problem that led to their suicidal ideation.
The world has suffered from a critical shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (Riva et al., 2007) during the pandemic of Covid-19 for medical staffs, the front liners. Like the whole world, Malaysia also imposed the stay-at-home and Movement Control Order (MCO) to break the chain of infections and flatten the curve of cases. The supply of PPE became a challenge during the lock down. There have been joined efforts from various parties stepping up, with different ways to help the production process of these key equipment but mostly focus on PPTs for male. Another challenge was face mask for Muslim lady health workers who wear hijab. This paper is about how to overcome these challenges and designed a novel face mask clip for hijab, using 3D printing. The face mask clip is for wearing a mask over hijab and is designed by generating a 3D digital file using computer-aided design (Hourcade, Bullock-Rest, & Hansen, 2012) software. Then the 3D design was converted to Standard Tessellation Language (STL) format, for the use of 3D printing systems. Then the design was split into layers for precise printing. The clips were tested by the staff in faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Feedbacks were collected by an online survey using the modified System Usability Scale. The participants reported that the clips are very comfortable and easy to use.
The aim of this study is to develop and assess the validity and reliability of Employee Needs Assessment Inventory (ENAI). Employee Needs Assessment Inventory (ENAI) aims to screen employees’ problem and measured eight scale namely health, financial, family, spiritual, work, career, interpersonal relationship and work environment. The instrument is developed based on Ecological Theory by Bronfenbrenner (1979). The questionnaire is distributed to 1113 employees in selected public university in Malaysia. The reliability of the instrument is measured using internal consistence reliability (Cronbach Alpha). The construct validity is measured by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The result indicated a coefficient alpha is 0.96 for the 76 ENAI items. The coefficient alphas for the eight subscales were as follows: 0.89 for health, 0.79 for financial, 0.86 for family, 0.83 for spiritual, 0.88 for work, 0.85 for career, 0.90 for interpersonal relationship and 0.89 for work environment. The study founds the instrument is valid and reliable.
Cyberbullying has emerged of late as a serious issue, especially among the most active internet users in Malaysia – youths. As the number of related studies is still lacking, the present study aims to determine the predictors of cyberbullying among youths in Malaysia. The study is quantitative in nature and in total had involved 400 youths aged between 18 to 40 years old. The findings suggest that predictors such as age, loneliness, self-esteem, and empathy yielded significant relationship with cyberbullying, while males were predominantly reported to perpetrate cyberbullying than females. Several recommendations were highlighted and hopefully, it can assist any concerned parties in developing concrete strategies to reduce cyberbullying cases among youths in Malaysia further.
This study aimed to determine the mediating role of leisure satisfaction between work domain (work overload and job involvement), family domain (family workload and family support) and work-life balance among teachers in Kuching. Fifty employees responded to the self-administered questionnaire in one of a primary school in Kuching area. Data was analyzed Pearson Correlation, Regression and Sobel Test. Results indicated that work overload and family workload are negative and significantly influence employee work-life balance while job involvement and family support are positive and significantly effect work-life balance. This research revealed work overload, job involvement, family workload, family support, and work-life balance are partially mediated by leisure satisfaction. Thus, it is recommended for organizations to organize variety of leisure activities as a strategy to assist employees to improve work-life balance.
The aim of this paper is to debate the concept of the balanced scorecard (BSC) and the way it will be used for evaluating the performance of safety practice in Malaysia public universities. This idea paper is especially supported secondary resources on the balanced scorecard pub-lished by other researchers. The approach of balanced scorecard model helps to the assessment of quality and safety practice of public universities. It helps public universities to create deci-sions and to enhance services. It translates the mission and strategy of a security practice into a system of performance indicators. A useful model is proposed that may be adapted with appropriate modifications to evaluate/managing safety practice and organizational perfor-mance of public universities in Malaysia. The study may help to those universities, who are seriously inquisitive about evaluating/managing internal safety practice, customer satisfac-tion, finance of universities and innovation and learning growth.