Background: A comparison of the job satisfaction of health care professionals has not been well studied in Malaysia. This study aimed to compare the job satisfaction level among 8 groups of health care professionals in private settings, using the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS). Methods: A total of 81 health care professionals, including nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, medical laboratory technologists, dieticians, medical imaging practitioners, environmental health officers, and optometrists in private (non-government) settings in the Klang Valley, were interviewed using the Job Satisfaction Survey scale invented by Dr Paul E Spector. Their job satisfaction scores were calculated and determined. Results: In the demographic data, the majority of the subjects were 20–30 years old (81.5%), were female (72.8%), had a basic degree (98.8%), were single (64.2%), and had 1–5 years of working experience (83.9%). A Kruskal–Wallis analysis showed significant differences (P < 0.05) in promotion, supervision, operating conditions, co-workers, nature of the work, and communication, but there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in pay, fringe benefits, and contingent rewards in JSS score among the 8 health care professions. The Friedman Test showed a significant difference of overall JSS scores (χ2 = 526.418, P < 0.001) among the 8 health care professions. Conclusion: The overall job satisfaction levels are different among health care professionals in private settings, especially regarding promotion, supervision, operating conditions, co-workers, the nature of the work, and communication.

Background: The epidemiological study of vision problems is important for developing national strategies for the prevention of visual impairment. There was a lack of information regarding vision problems among school children in East Malaysia. The purpose of this study was to compare the refractive errors and degrees of visual impairment between Native Iban and Malay school children who participated in a formal government vision loss prevention programme conducted in a rural area of Betong Division, Malaysia. Methods: In total, 293 Native Iban and Malay school children (Standard 1, Standard 6, and Form 3) received refractive assessments by an optometrist after failing tests in the formal government school vision screening programme in 2008. A criterion for referral was a visual acuity of 6/9 or worse in either eye. Assessments of the refractive errors of the children were performed using dry retinoscopy and subjective refraction techniques at community clinics. Results: The overall prevalences of refractive error and visual impairment among the sampled populations were 47.7% and 3.5%, respectively. Approximately 97.1% of reported cases were myopia. The Malay sample population was found to be more myopic than the Native Iban population (U = 8240.50, P < 0.05, r = 0.14), but no significant association was found between myopia and ethnicity (χ2 = 2.66, P > 0.05). Both Native Iban and Malay children in education levels higher than Standard 1 were more likely to have myopia (P < 0.05). Myopia was found to be more likely to affect females than males at a statistically significant level among Native Iban children (χ2 [1.N = 170] = 6.279, P < 0.05, odds ratio = 2.327, 95% CI = 1.184–4.575). There was no statistically significant association between visual impairment and ethnicity (χ2 = 1.60, P > 0.05). Approximately 94.1% of children with refractive errors suffered from having either the wrong prescription (7.8%) or having uncorrected refractive errors (92.2%). Conclusion: The Native Iban population was found to be less myopic than the Malay population despite having a similar frequency of myopia. The proportion of children with myopia increased with the level of education in both ethnicities. A high percentage of untreated refractive error problems among Native Iban and Malay children in the Betong Division indicates that there is a need for government intervention for the purpose of economic and healthcare improvements.

INTRODUCTIONThe visual status of children with learning disabilities has not been extensively studied. This study aimed to compare vision disorders between children in mainstream classes and those with learning disabilities attending special education classes in government primary schools in Malaysia.

METHODSIn this cross-sectional comparative study, 60 school children (30 from mainstream classes and 30 from special education classes) who were matched in age (6-12 years old) and ethnicity (Malay, Chinese and Indian) were examined. The subjects were recruited using non-probability convenience sampling. A complete eye examination was performed to detect three major vision disorders, namely refractive error, lag of accommodation and convergence insufficiency.

RESULTSThe overall prevalence of refractive error, lag of accommodation and convergence insufficiency was found to be 65.0%, 43.3% and 35.2%, respectively. Convergence insufficiency (χ² = 24.073, p < 0.001) was found to be associated with children in special education classes. No association was found between refractive error and lag of accommodation (p > 0.05) with the type of classes.

CONCLUSIONChildren in special education classes are more likely to have convergence insufficiency compared to children in mainstream classes. Thus, vision screening programmes for children in special education classes may need to be modified.

Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Education, Special ; Female ; Humans ; Learning Disorders ; complications ; epidemiology ; Mainstreaming (Education) ; Malaysia ; epidemiology ; Male ; Prevalence ; Schools ; Vision Disorders ; epidemiology ; Vision Screening ; methods ; Visual Acuity

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have been in great fear due to the high risk of contracting COVID-19 infection at any time. This study aimed to determine the mediating role of resilience on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and burnout in primary care healthcare providers in Malaysia. Methods: This was an online cross-sectional study involving 1280 healthcare providers aged 18 years and older from 30 government primary care clinics in Malaysia. We used the COVID-19 Fear Scale, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory Scale, and the Short Brief Resilience Scale to collect data from the respondents. Smart-PLS was used to perform mediation analysis. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 36 years old and mean duration of working experience was 11 years. The majority of the respondents were female (82.4%) and Malays (82.3%). The study population consisted of nurses (47.4%), doctors (26%), medical assistants (11.9), healthcare assistant (7.1%), medical laboratory technicians (6.4%) and drivers(1.3).The results show that fear of COVID-19 positively predicts burnout. According to the results, resilience mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and all the three burnout domains, namely personal burnout (β=0.175,p<0.001), work-related burnout (β=0.175,p<0.001) and client-related burnout (β=0.172,p<0.001). Additionally, resilience reduces the impact of COVID-19 fear on the three domains of burnout. Conclusion: Our study has reported a mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and burnout.

Sarcocystosis, a parasitic infection caused by a protozoa belonging to the genus Sarcocystis, is found worldwide in both and animals. Sarcocystis spp., require two animal hosts to complete their life cycle. The infection has gathered more global attention after recent outbreaks, especially amongst wester travellers to Malaysia. Other than sporadic cases and the current outbreaks, little information is available regarding human Sarcocystis infection in Malaysia. The present study aims to determine the prevalence of sarcocystosis among humans using an immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test applied to dried blood on filter papers. A total of 200 blood samples were collected on filter papers from autopsy cases at two Malaysian hospitals: Sungai Buloh Hospital (peninsular Malaysia) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Malaysian Borneo). Antigens were prepared from bradyzoites harvested from positive goats’ muscle samples. Of the 200 samples, 32 (16%) had Sarcocystis antibodies that showed positive fluorescence reactions on filter papers. There was no significant difference (t-test, p value > 0.05) in prevalence rates between samples collected from autopsies at peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. The results demonstrated that the filter paper technique can be used as one of the alternative serological tests in the diagnostic of human sarcocystosis.