1.Barriers to implementing a national health screening program for men in Malaysia: An online survey of healthcare providers
Chirk Jenn Ng ; Chin Hai Teo ; Kar Mun Ang ; Yong Leng Kok ; Khalid Ashraf ; Hui Ling Leong ; Sri Wahyu Taher ; Zakiah Mohd Said ; Zainal Fitri Zakaria ; Ping Foo Wong ; Chee Peng Hor ; Teng Aik Ong ; Husni Hussain ; V Paranthaman P Vengadasalam ; Chiu Wan Ng ; Kavitha Agamutu ; Mohamad Aznuddin Abd Razak
Malaysian Family Physician 2020;15(1):6-14
Introduction: This study aimed to determine the views and practices of healthcare providers and
barriers they encountered when implementing the national health screening program for men in a
public primary care setting in Malaysia.
Methods: An online survey was conducted among healthcare providers across public health clinics in
Malaysia. All family medicine specialists, medical officers, nurses and assistant medical officers involved in the screening program for adult men were invited to answer a 51-item questionnaire via email or WhatsApp. The questionnaire comprised five sections: participants’ socio-demographic information, current screening practices, barriers and facilitators to using the screening tool, and views on the content and format of the screening tool.
Results: A total of 231 healthcare providers from 129 health clinics participated in this survey.
Among them, 37.44% perceived the implementation of the screening program as a “top-down
decision.” Although 37.44% found the screening tool for adult men “useful,” some felt that it was
“time consuming” to fill out (38.2%) and “lengthy” (28.3%). In addition, ‘adult men refuse to answer’
(24.1%) was cited as the most common patient-related barrier.
Conclusions: This study provided useful insights into the challenges encountered by the public
healthcare providers when implementing a national screening program for men. The screening tool for
adult men should be revised to make it more user-friendly. Further studies should explore the reasons
why men were reluctant to participate in health screenings, thus enhancing the implementation of
screening programs in primary care.
Result Analysis
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