The attitudes shown by community towards the mentally ill patient can have implications for recovery. To gather robust evidence regarding community attitudes towards people with mental illness, a data collection is required. A cross sectional study was carried out to examine the community attitudes towards the mentally ill patients and its associated factors in Tampoi Town, Johor among 347 respondents. This study was conducted from June 2012 to June 2013. Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill questionnaire was used to examine public attitudes towards the mentally ill patients. Another questionnaire was used to determine media influence and history or experience with the mentally ill patients was administered by a researcher. The community in this town had a positive attitude towards the mentally ill patients. Benevolence attitude which represent the positive attitude has the highest mean score [37.13 (4.18)]. Social Restrictiveness attitude which represent the negative attitude has the lowest mean score [25.42 (4.82)]. Results indicated that race, educational level and previous experience with the mentally ill patients had a significant association with community attitudes towards the mentally ill patients. Meanwhile, age, gender, religion, occupation, income and media have no association with community attitudes towards the mentally ill patients. These results are expected to help the related parties in conducting various comprehensive and holistic programs or campaign. Specifically, medical social worker should be more sensitive to the public attitude toward the mentally ill patients so that they could recognize the contributing factors on negative attitudes and prevent them.

Cultural attitudes of the societies have long been identified as one of the important determinants of Quality of Life (QoL). Yet there is a dearth of socio-culturally validated instruments for local population to assess the impact of socio-cultural practice on health. The aim of this validation study is to develop and test the validity and reliabilityof a questionnaire on culture dimensions.Respondents were asked about their engagement in socio-cultural aspects including beliefs and practice oftraditional customs and culture using a set of newly developed questionnaire.A total of 275eligible respondentsparticipatedwith150(54.5%)from the general population and 125 (45.5%)from the Orang Asli population. Kaiser-Meyer Olkin measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMO) was 0.791 and 0.677 for the general and Orang Asli population respectively. Bartlett’s test for both population was significant (p<0.001). By Principal Common Analysis, four factorswere extracted (Eigen values >1.0) that jointly accounted for 54.7% and 52.0% of the total variance among the general population and Orang Asli respectively.The Cronbach alpha value score was 0.785and 0.730 for the general population and Orang Asli population respectively. The Cronbach alpha values foreach of the four domains ranged from 0.477-0.865 and 0.543-0.758 for the general population and Orang Asli population respectively.These results suggest that the newly developed questionnaire appeared to have adequate validity and reliability in measuringsocio-cultural factors in the population.
general population & ; Orang Asli ; cultural believe & ; practice

We investigated the association between housing conditions with a primary focus on basic housing infrastructure and WHOQOL BREF score among the Orang Asli and non-Orang Asli populations. A cross–sectional study was conducted between August 2014 and May 2015 among the Orang Asli and non-Orang Asli populations in Kuala Langat, Selangor. Sampling of the population was done through multistage sampling while eligible respondents participated conveniently. The socio-demographic information collected consisted of age, ethnicity, marital status, educational level, and employment status. Basic housing infrastructure variables including the types of housing unit, wall construction material, availability and types of toilet, availability of electricity, source of water supply, and availability of garbage collection facilities were obtained. Among the Orang Asli respondents, having the pour type of toilet in the house was significantly (p=0.003) associated with a reduction in the physical health domain score by 0.36 (95% CI: -0.61,-0.12). Conversely, having no toilet in the house and living in a semi-detached house had significantly (p=0.023 and p=0.026 respectively) increased the social relationships domain score by 0.81 (CI: 0.11, 1.51) and 3.90 (CI: 0.47, 7.34) respectively. Unavailability of garbage disposal facilities was found to be significantly (p<0.001) associated with a reduction in the environmental domain score by 0.70 (95% CI: -1.05, 0.35). This study have added to the evidence that housing programs of the Orang Asli population need to be further strengthened and supported by a range of policies and practices that address the critical intervention points for more potential health gains.
Orang Asli ; non-Orang Asli population ; Quality of Life ; basic amenities and infrastructure

The population with normal body mass index (BMI) but with abdominal obesity are most of the time the ‘neglected’ population in terms of health interventions. The aim of this study is to study the prevalence of abdominal obesity and to explore the factors causing abdominal obesity by using waist circumference (WC) measurement. A cross sectional study was conducted among a group of respondents in Tanjung Karang, Selangor, Malaysia from January until June 2010, among those aged 18 years old and above, to explore the demographic (gender and ethnics), lifestyle factors (physical activity, carbohydrate intake and smoking status) and measurement of body weight, height and waist circumference. A total of 629 subjects with normal BMI were studied. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 36.1% based on WC (40.0% males and 70.0% females). The predictor model revealed that being non-Malay (aOR = 2.1; 95% CI: 1.35-3.20) and being female (aOR = 3.6 ; 95% CI : 2.51-5.06) were the associated factors of having abdominal obesity in normal BMI population. In conclusion, females and non-Malay were factors that were found to be associated with abdominal obesity in normal BMI population. This is important in targeting this vulnerable population with risk factors that can develop non communicable diseases for early interventions.

Children less than 6 years old are the most vulnerable group to get harm from Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) exposure, especially their respiratory system. To determine the prevalence of ETS exposure and its association with asthma like symptoms among children less than 6 years old. A cross sectional study was conducted in between January till April 2014 among parents with children less than 6 years old in Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 142 parents were selected by simple random sampling and data were collected using guided questionnaire on ETS exposure and asthma like symptoms (cough and wheeze) among their children. A total of 52.8% of children found to be exposed to ETS, and 43.7% were exposed from their father. ETS exposure significantly associated with cough without cold (adjusted OR=5.46, 95% CI 2.37, 12.61), dry cough at night (adjusted OR=3.74, 95%CI 1.41, 9.95) and cough upon physical activity (adjusted OR=3.08, 95% 1.07, 8.89) among these children. Children less than 6 years old are vulnerable to respiratory problem due to ETS exposure especially on cough symptoms. More strategies should be developing to reduce the exposure to ETS.

Pregnant women are at higher risk of transmitting the infections to their foetus. This prompted the “Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Program” in Malaysia since 1998. The objective of this cross sectional study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of pregnant mothers in the west of Sabah towards HIV/AIDS and its influencing factors. Data were obtained through self administered questionnaires. Results showed that only 32.2% of the respondents have good knowledge compared to 67.8% who had poor knowledge (p <0.001) of HIV/AIDS. Majority of them (56.4%) have good attitude and practice towards HIV/AIDS compared to the remaining poor attitude and practice respondent (44.4%) (p<0.001). Radio/TV (90.2%) and reading materials (83.9%) were the main sources of obtaining information. Main influencing factors for having good knowledge towards HIV/AIDS were women aged < 30 years old, have high education, who perceived on having good knowledge towards HIV/AIDS and received health education from health staffs. Mean while, influencing factors for having good attitude and practice towards HIV/AIDS were women having high education and received health education from health staffs. Therefore, implementation of PMCTC must be reviewed regularly to ensure the program reach its targets.

Sexual dysfunction in women is a significant health problem that harms marriage stability. Women in the Western countries were reportedly being affected by this condition after childbirth but the magnitude of the problem in our local setting is still unknown. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the prevalence of women with sexual dysfunction at four to six months postpartum and its possible risk factors in an urban primary care setting. The participants were given a set of questionnaire, consisting of three parts; i) sociodemographic and maternal characteristics ii) Malay version of Female Sexual Function Index and iii) Malay DASS-21 questionnaire. Responses from 249 women were analyzed. More than half (57.0%,n=142) were found to have sexual dysfunction. The most prevalent types of sexual dysfunction reported by the affected women were sexual satisfaction disorder (98.6%), followed by arousal disorder (58.5%) and lubrication disorder (28.9%). Three factors were found to be significantly associated with sexual dysfunction; household income of less than RM2000 (adj OR = 0.31, 95% CI 0.14, 0.70), Malay ethnic group (adj OR = 1.93,95% CI 1.02, 3.66) and breastfeeding (adj OR = 2.24,95% CI 1.03, 4.85). In conclusion, the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in the postpartum period was considerably high. Efforts should be made to incorporate sexual health as part of the routine postnatal assessment in primary care practice.

Sleep has played a very important role in maintaining our health with good living quality therefore the aim of this study is to determine the pattern of sleep duration, especially short sleep and its associated factors among workers in a tertiary institution. A cross-sectional study was conducted from January until May 2012 among 128 randomly selected Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) staffs. Data was collected using a guided standardized data sheet which consist of three sections; (1):sociodemographic &socioeconomic, (2): lifestyle and, (3): anthropometric measurement and sleep diary. Data entry and analysis were done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Majority of the staffs had normal sleep duration (67.2%) followed by short sleep duration (26.6%) and long sleep duration (6.3%). Simple logistic regression analysis indicated that late night snacking was significantly related to short sleep (cOR=3.47, 95% CI: 1.12, 12.23, p=0.048). Adequate sleep is important to maintain one’s health. Steps can be taken to limit late night snacking in order to improve the sleep pattern in this study population.​
Sleep ; Snacks ; Feeding Behavior ; manpower

Nurses’ job performance is defined as the effectiveness of a person in carrying out his or her duties related to patient care. Aim of this study is to measure job performance among nurses in a tertiary hospital and its associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses selected from four departments, which were Obstetrics & Gynecology (O&G), medical, surgical and Cardiac Care Unit (CCU)/High Dependency Unit (HDU). A Malay validated Six-Dimension Scale of Nursing Performance (6-DSNP) questionnaire was used to measure job performance. Nurses who have one child more compared to other nurses had significantly lower total mean score of job performance by -0.06 (95% CI 0.11, 0.01). Nurses working in medical department [adj.β=0.16 (95% CI 0.01, 0.30)] and CCU/HDU [adj.β= 0.33(95% CI: 0.17, 0.50)] had significantly higher total mean scores of jobs performance compared to O&G department. Effective strategies and re-examining work conditions are imperative for better job performance.
job performance ; associated factors ; nurses ; tertiary hospital

Field trials of Wolbachia-transinfected mosquitoes, as a biological approach to curb dengue transmission, have been initiated. This study aimed to determine the knowledge regarding dengue fever (DF), practice of vector control, and acceptance of Wolbachia as a dengue control method among Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) healthcare staff. A questionnaire assessing knowledge regarding DF, vector control practices, and acceptance of Wolbachia was conducted among 330 UKMMC healthcare staff via convenience sampling. More than 70% of the respondents had good knowledge regarding DF, good vector control practice, and good acceptance of Wolbachia. Being female and having household income >MYR3000 had higher odds of having good knowledge regarding DF [(aOR 2.40; 95%CI 1.13, 5.12) and (aOR 3.86; 95%CI 1.91, 7.80)]. Having household income >MYR3000 had higher odds of having good vector control practice (aOR 2.33; 95%CI 1.20, 4.54) while academicians were three times (1-0.24) less likely to have good vector control practice than non-academicians (aOR 0.24; 95%CI 0.13, 0.48). Good acceptance of Wolbachia was associated with being academicians (aOR 8.83; 95%CI 2.60, 29.96) and having good knowledge regarding DF (aOR 6.07; 95% CI 2.89, 12.74). Gender, different income level and type of occupation have significant association with either good knowledge regarding DF or practice on vector control. Different type of occupation and level of knowledge also were notably significantly associated with good acceptance on Wolbachia as dengue biological control. These factors may be the focus for future plan to enhance the knowledge, acceptance and practice regarding DF and its control.
Wolbachia ; Dengue, Aedes ; Knowledge ; Practice ; Acceptance ; Questionnaire ; Healthcare staff