METHODS: A total of 377 school children, male and female, aged 5-6 years old, participated and were assigned to either the intervention or a control group. During the 2 months intervention period, children in the test group were trained on proper hand hygiene practices and techniques with the aid of the interactive android-based tablets. The numbers of absent days of all the children were recorded for 2 months before the intervention and during the intervention.
RESULTS: In the test group, there was a 25% increase in the total number of absent days from the pre-intervention period to the intervention period, a much lesser increment observed as compared to that of control group in which the increase was much higher at 89%. Results showed a significant difference (P
METHOD: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the general population of Pakistan to investigate the knowledge and perception about hand hygiene, self-reported hand hygiene practices, adherence to hand hygienic guidelines, and barriers to optimal hand hygiene. Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Regression model were used for statistical analysis.
RESULTS: There was a significant difference in area-based knowledge (P = 0.026), beliefs (P = 0.027), and practices (P = 0.002) regarding hand hygiene. The results of regression analysis revealed that people in urban areas were more likely to have better knowledge (β = 0.108, CI = 0.076 - 0.05, P = 0.008) and better adherence (β = 0.115, CI = 0.514 - 2.68, P = 0.004) to hand hygienic practices.
CONCLUSION: Advertisements on television and other electronic media with appealing slogans could be effective in making people more compliant to optimal hand hygienic practices.
METHOD: A pre-school was provided with an interactive hand hygiene application for two months. The device features an online administrator dashboard for data collection and for monitoring the children's hand washing steps and duration. A good hand washing is defined as hand washing which comprise all of the steps outlined in the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
RESULTS: The prototype managed to capture 6882 hand wash performed with an average of 20.85 seconds per hand wash. Washing hands palm to palm was the most frequent (79.9%) step performed, whereas scrubbing fingernails and wrists were the least (56%) steps performed.
CONCLUSIONS: The device is a good prototype to educate, stimulate and monitor good hand hygiene practices. However, other measures should be undertaken to ensure sustainability of the practices.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study therefore is to determine if improving sleep quality could improve executive functions in medical students with poor sleep quality by comparing cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) with sleep hygiene education (SHE) in a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
METHODS: A parallel group, RCT with a target sample of 120 medical students recruited from government-based medical universities in Malaysia. Eligible participants will be randomized to internet group CBT-I or internet group SHE in a 1:1 ratio. Assessments will be performed at baseline, post-intervention, 1 month, 3-months, and 6-months. The primary outcome is between-group differences in sleep quality and executive function post-baseline. The secondary outcomes include pre-sleep worry, attitude about sleep, sleep hygiene and sleep parameters.
RESULTS: This study received approval from the Research Ethics Committee in Universiti Putra Malaysia (JKEUPM-2023-1446) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (JEP-2024-669). The clinical trial was also registered in Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN1264000243516). As of June 2024, the recruitment process is ongoing and a total of 48 and 49 students have been enrolled from the universities into the CBT-I and ISHE groups, respectively. All the participants provided signed and informed consent to participate in the study. Data collection has been completed for the baseline (pre-treatment assessment), and follow-up assessments for T1 and T2 for all the participants in both groups, while T3 and T4 assessments will be completed by July 2025. Data analysis will be performed by August 2025 and the research will be completed by December 2025.
CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first attempt to design a CBT intervention to ameliorate poor sleep quality and its related negative effects among medical students. This research is also the first large-scale exploring the relationship between health status and CBT-mediated sleep improvement among medical students.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12624000243516; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=387030.
INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/59288.