1.Parental Intervention Strategies to Reduce Screen Time Among Preschool-aged Children: A Systematic Review
Diana Raj ; Nor Afiah binti Mohd Zulkefli ; Halimatus Sakdiah Minhat ; Norliza Ahmad
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2022;18(No.6):295-304
Aims: Children below five years have been the target of screen time guidelines. The adverse health outcomes associated with it require focusing on prime strategies for reducing screen time. The current study reviews parental intervention strategies to reduce screen time among preschool-aged children. Design: Systematic review. Data sources: A
total of five databases of the Cochrane register of controlled trials, CINAHL, Medline PubMed, and Scopus databases
were searched from May 1 to 31, 2020. Review Methods: The keywords of “screen time”, “television”, “video”,
“computer”, “mobile device”, “hand phone”, “media use”, “preschool-aged children”, “interventions”, and “strategies” used for search. The inclusion criteria are limited to specific study populations, intervention, comparison and
outcomes (PICOs), language, and published study types. The quality of articles was assessed using the Cochrane Risk
of Bias (RoB) tool. Results: A total of six studies that met the inclusion criteria were further analysed. It showed that
besides providing knowledge and awareness regarding screen time, restrictive practices, offering alternative activities
to parents and removing the screen from the child’s bedroom were the most common strategies used by successful
studies. The duration of intervention between 6-8weeks was sufficient to observe screen time reduction, while faceto-face methods dominated the mode of delivery. Increasing parental self-efficacy, listing outcome expectations, and
reinforcement strategies targeting both the parents and their home environment were beneficial in reducing screen
time. Conclusion: Future screen time reduction studies could benefit from incorporating the above approaches for
screen time reduction intervention among preschool children.
2.The Incubation Period Of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) In Petaling District, Malaysia
Ainul Nadziha Mohd Hanafiah ; Lee Soo Cheng ; Lim Kuang Kuay ; Waramlah Ramlan ; Diana Raj ; Shiehafiel Fieqri Hussin ; Ridwan Sanaudi ; Roslinda Abu Sapian ; Nurul Syarbani Eliana Musa ; Mohamed Paid Yusoff
Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine 2021;21(1):127-133
The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected the world with over two million cases globally. Malaysia has witnessed over 5,000 with almost 100 deaths as of 22 April 2020. Knowledge on the incubation period of COVID-19 is scarce due to the novelty of the virus. The aim of this study was to determine the incubation period of COVID-19 infection in the district of Petaling in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data from the Petaling District Health Office. We analysed data of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases notified to the Petaling District Health Office between 3 February 2020 and 13 April 2020. Our study included 219 cases. The median incubation period of COVID-19 among the cases was five days (interquartile range 3.0-8.0). Four main clusters were identified, with significant difference found between two of the clusters. Cluster A has a shorter incubation period 3.5 (3.0-6.8) compared to cluster B as most of the confirmed cases knew the source of infection. COVID-19 incubation period in Petaling, Malaysia fits within the range estimated by the World Health Organization. Based on the upper value of the incubation period interquartile range in our study, the length of quarantine and period of contact tracing should be at least 8 days. This finding is in accordance with our current practice to control the spread of COVID-19