1.Translation, adaptation and pilot testing of the Pictorial Fit-Frail Scale (PFFS) for use in Malaysia – The PFFS-Malay version (PFFS-M)
Sally Suriani Ahip ; Sazlina Shariff-Ghazali ; Sabrina Lukas ; Azah Abdul Samad ; Ummu Kalsum Mustapha ; Olga Theou ; Renuka Visvanathan
Malaysian Family Physician 2021;16(2):27-36
Background: Frailty is an important health issue in an aging population; it is a state of vulnerability that renders the elderly susceptible to adverse health outcomes, including disability, hospitalization, long-term care admission and death. Early frailty stages are recognizable through screening and are reversible with targeted interventions. To date, however, there is no screening tool for use in Malaysia. The English Pictorial Fit-Frail Scale (PFFS) is a visual tool that assesses a person’s fitness-frailty level in 14 health domains, with higher scores indicating higher frailty.
Objective: The aim was to translate and adapt the English PFFS for use in Malaysian clinical settings.
Methods: The original English PFFS underwent forward and backward-translation by two bilingual translators to and from the Malay language. A finalized version, the PFFS-Malay (PFFS-M), was formed after expert reviewers’ consensus and was pilot tested with 20 patients, 20 caregivers, 16 healthcare assistants, 17 nurses and 22 doctors. Score agreement between patients and their caregivers and among healthcare professionals were assessed. All participants rated their understanding of the scale using the feasibility survey forms.
Results: A total of 95 participants were included. There were high percentages of scoring agreements among all participants on the scale (66.7% to 98.9%). Overall feedback from all respondents were positive and supported the face validity of the PFFS-M.
Conclusion: The PFFS-M reflects an accurate translation for the Malaysian population. The scale is usable and feasible and has face validity. Reliability and predictive validity assessments of the PFFS-M are currently underway.
2.Effectiveness of an integrated-Weight Management Programme (i-WMP) in Reducing Body Weight among Noncommunicable Disease Patients in Malaysian Government Primary Care Clinics: A Randomised Controlled Trial
Siew-Tin Tan ; Sherina Mohd-Sidik ; Lekhraj Rampal ; Kit-Aun Tan ; Zuriati Ibrahim ; Norliza Binti Ahmad ; Ummu Kalsum Mustapha ; Fuziah Paimin ; Nor Hazlin Talib ; Naemah Sharifuddin ; Normala Ibrahim
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2022;18(No.6):54-64
Introduction: Obesity is a global issue called as “globesity”. Overweight and obesity may lead to many noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Primary care is the first centre to monitor and follow-up the progress of NCD patients.
Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an integrated-Weight Management Programme (i-WMP) to reduce body weight among NCD patients from two Government primary care clinics from
Hulu Langat District. Methods: This study was single-blinded randomised controlled trial by design. There were 244
eligible patients were randomised into intervention (n = 122) or wait-list control group (n = 122). The i-WMP was
developed based on the behaviour change wheel through the operationalization of behaviour change techniques.
The duration of this intervention programme was four weeks. Data collected at week 0, week 4, and week 12. The
software IBM SPSS was used to analyse the data. Generalized linear mixed model analysis with intention-to-treat
principle was applied. Results: The retention rate was 74.2%. Findings showed that the i-WMP was significantly
effective in reducing not only body weight as primary outcome but also secondary outcomes such as waist-to-height
ratio, waist circumference, body mass index, and total sitting time. It also improved effectively other secondary outcomes such as participants’ knowledge, attitude, and practice towards dietary and towards physical activity. However, no significant changes were reported for body fat percentage and total physical activity metabolic equivalent of
task-minutes/week. Conclusion: Implications surrounding the implementation of i-WMP in the primary care clinics
are recommended.