1.Malaysian Parents’ Feedback On Three Proxy-Rated Assessments Used In Pediatric Rehabilitation
Farahiyah Wan Yunus ; Michelle Bissett ; Stefania Penkala ; Masne Kadar ; Karen Liu
Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine 2018;18(1):64-69
Assessing a child’s functional abilities and limitations can provide useful information for occupational therapists to develop individualised intervention plans. Usually paediatric assessments require parents to rate their child on different domains of health and functional performance. To do so, parents need to be able to understand the assessment content and instructions to rate their child accurately. The primary purpose of this study was to examine if parents in Malaysia understood the content and instructions of three assessments: the Sensory Profile Caregiver Questionnaire (SP), the Sensory Processing Measure Home Form (SPM) and the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function Parent Form (BRIEF). The secondary purpose was to examine perceptions about the clarity and relevancy of each of the items in each assessment. Thirty parents, recruited using convenience sampling, completed a survey about the assessments. In general, the parents indicated no problems or only minor problems in understanding the content and instructions of all three assessments. The parents also provided comments to improve the clarity of the assessment items. Comments were primarily related to the terms or jargon language used. Elaborations of the terms or jargon were later provided based on the parents’ comments. All three assessments were identified as relevant to be used in the Malaysian population. The results suggest that all three assessments can be used by parents and are suitable to be implemented by occupational therapists working with children in Malaysia.
Parent-rated assessments
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Malaysian children
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Face validity
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Cross-cultural relevancy
2.The Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Handwriting Intervention for Children with Motor Coordination Issues: A Systematic Review (Keberkesanan Terapi Cara Kerja Bagi Intervensi Tulisan Tangan Terhadap Kanak-kanak Dengan Masalah Koordinasi Motor: Tinjauan Literatur Sistematik)
MAHFUZAH ZAINOL ; MASNE KADAR ; NOR AFIFI RAZAOB ; FARAHIYAH WAN YUNUS
Malaysian Journal of Health Sciences 2022;20(No.1):161-177
Handwriting difficulty is one of the main issues among school children, especially for those with motor coordination
issues. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions in
handwriting components for children with motor coordination issues. Current research articles were systematically
searched according to the PRISMA guidelines. Two hundred and sixty-eight (n=268) research articles were identified;
however, only ten (n=10) were eligible to be evaluated for this study. Studies were appraised by using McMaster Critical
Review Form-Quantitative Studies. Descriptive synthesis was executed due to the heterogeneity of included studies. The
review found various types of intervention conducted by occupational therapists to have a positive effect on handwriting
performance components among children with motor coordination issues. Types of intervention used were visual, motor,
perceptual, sensory, activity of daily living skills, training device and assistive technology and specific handwriting
programs. Most handwriting intervention showed effectiveness to improve handwriting performance in motor function,
visual and perceptual components. Future research should focus on homogeneity of Occupational Therapy (OT)
intervention to improve handwriting performance by using specific handwriting programmes and similar standardised
evaluation instruments. Practitioners of OT intervention should consider collaboration with teachers, parents and other
health professionals to expedite effectiveness of intervention in handwriting performance components.
3.Advisory Panel Review on the Feasibility of Three Intervention Programmes for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Farahiyah Wan Yunus ; Michelle Bissett ; Stefania Penkala ; Muhammad Hibatullah Romli ; Karen P.Y Liu
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2020;16(No.2):43-51
Introduction: The prevalence of children with autism spectrum disorder is increasing each year. Intervention programmes towards improving the occupational needs such as daily activities of these children are limited. This study aimed to collect opinions from advisory panel for the content validation of the three developed intervention programmes to be implemented among children with autism spectrum disorder aged between 6 to 12 years. The intervention programmes are; i) self-regulated learning, ii) sensory integration intervention and iii) activity-based intervention. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Twenty occupational therapists with more than three years’ experience working with children with autism spectrum disorders were recruited as advisory panel members. Researchers-developed questionnaire was used. The questionnaire consists of nine to eleven items. Each item consists of a five-point Likert scale for quantitative responses and open-ended questions for qualitative responses. Results: Advisory panel ratings of ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’ was reported across most items in all three intervention programmes. Overall results suggested that the intervention programmes content was rated to be suitable for children with autism spectrum disorder. Constructive comments were adopted to clarify the activities and structure of the intervention programmes. Final development of the intervention programmes is presented. Conclusion: This study provides confidence for the interventions to be incorporated into the future randomised controlled trial.
4.Self-Care Skills between Institutionalised and Home Dwelling Older Adults: A Preliminary Study Kajian Rintis Kemahiran Penjagaan Diri Warga Tua di antara institusi dan rumah kediaman.
NOR AFIFI RAZAOB ; MASNE KADAR ; HANIF FARHAN MOHD RASHDI ; FARAHIYAH WAN YUNUS ; NOR AZWANI MOHAMED BUKHORI ; THAM SI YAN ; CHAI SIAW CHUI
Malaysian Journal of Health Sciences 2021;19(No.2):134-140
Self-care is defined as activities performed by individuals, families, and communities to enhance their health, prevent
diseases, limit illnesses, and restore health. Previous research has mainly focused on self-care skills of older adults in
either institution or residential homes separately but limited studies have compared between both these settings. This
study aimed to compare the self-care skills between institutionalised and home dwelling older adults at selected area in
Malaysia. A total of 43 participants aged 60 years old and above were recruited in our study; (23 participants were
home-dwelled older adults and 19 participants were recruited from institutionalised older adults located in Kuala
Lumpur). The Malay Version of Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills (M-PASS-HOME) 4.0 was used focusing on
four main subtests of self-skills; oral hygiene, trimming toenails, house mobility and shower mobility. The differences in
self-care skills between institutionalised and home dwelling older adults are statistically significant (p<0.01) in the
aspects of independency for all self-care activities. The results of this study revealed that home dwelling older adults
group are more independent in self-care activities of oral hygiene, trimming toenails, house mobility and shower mobility
compared to institutionalised group.
5.Face and Content Validity of a Handwriting Program for Children With Handwriting Difficulties
Mahfuzah Zainol ; Masne Kadar ; Nor Afifi Razaob ; Farahiyah Wan Yunus
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2023;19(No.3):262-271
Introduction: Occupational therapists have been developing various handwriting intervention that has fundamental
occupational goals with known validity to guide professional practice in the treatment of children with handwriting
difficulties. This study aimed to explore the development and content validation of a developed handwriting intervention programme for children with handwriting difficulties. Methods: This study employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodology based on the sequential exploratory design in two main stages. The first stage
is the focus group discussion and followed by a validation procedure using face and content validity scored by the
expert reviewers. A total of thirteen experts participated in this study. Results: The findings were analyzed thematically according to physical appearance, language used, and content in the developed programme. The face and content
validity report a convincing value, ranging from 0.99 to 1.00 of S-CVI values on four aspects, relevancy, clarity,
simplicity, and ambiguity in the developed programme. Conclusion: This study provided preliminary approval for
the development and validation of a handwriting intervention programme for children with handwriting difficulties
to support the demand in the Malaysian school curriculum.