A systematic review on methods used in health education intervention on anaemia in pregnancy

Anaemia is a common health problem during pregnancy, which leads to adverse health consequences to both mothers and infants. Health education is an important strategy in preventing anaemia. It’s success to improve haemoglobin level depends on the methods and design. This review aimed to identify the methods used and the effectiveness of health education intervention in improving anaemia in pregnancy. A systematic review of studies published in MEDLINE, CINAHL, Science Direct and PubMed from January 2010 to April 2017 was conducted using various keywords. Initial search revealed 274 articles, which later reduced to eight after being screened for inclusion criteria that consist of intervention study and involving pregnant women as participants. Health education intervention program with various delivery methods were proven to significantly reduce the prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy. Group discussion, health talk, poster presentation and educational pamphlet were common methods used in health education intervention

Family planning practice among married Orang Asli women in Sepang district and its associated factors

Introduction: Family planning allows couples to have their desired number of children and optimum birth spacing. While the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) in Malaysia was reported as 52.2% in 2014, little is known regarding the practice of family planning among marginalised groups such as the Orang Asli women. This study aims to determine family planning practice among married Orang Asli women in Sepang district and its associated factors. Methods: A cross sectional study using a pretested questionnaire was conducted in five Orang Asli settlements in Sepang using cluster sampling. Chi-square test and simple logistic regression were used in bivariate analysis, where-as binary logistic regression was used to determine the predictors of family planning practice. Results: 212 (58.4%) participants were current users of family planning, with 68.3% of the users reported using oral contraceptive pills. In the logistic regression models, family planning practice was significantly more common among women who had children (AOR= 43.659, 95% CI: 5.788, 329.323), being housewives (AOR=1.973, 95% CI: 1.205, 3.230) and had higher attitude score (AOR=1.113, 95% CI: 1.006, 1.232). Conclusion: The CPR of current study was about the same as the national CPR in 2014. The predictors of family planning practice among Orang Asli women were having children, being a housewife and having a better attitude towards family planning. Future intervention to increase the CPR should focus on improving women’s attitude regarding family planning

Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding healthy diet and physical activity among overweight or obese children

Background: Inculcating healthy life style such as the habit of consuming balanced diet and performing physical activity among children could prevent them from becoming overweight or obese and thus avoid the risk of chronic diseases related with obesity. Such efforts are challenging yet crucial. This study assessed the immediate effect on children's knowledge, attitude and practices regarding healthy diet and physical activity following an awareness programme. Materials and Methods: A half-day childhood obesity awareness programme was conducted to encourage the practise of healthy diet and physical activity, and persuade against unhealthy food consumption and sedentary life style. The programme was carried out among 30 children aged 8-11year old in an international school in Putrajaya who were overweight or obese. A pre-and post-test design was carried out to evaluate their knowledge, attitude, and practice toward healthy diet and physical activity using pretested questionnaire. Comparison of pre-and post-test' scores were carried out using paired t test. Result: Over half of the respondents were female (63.3%) and obese (70.0%). The mean(sd) knowledge and attitude scores for healthy diet were 2.00(0.91) and 2.33(0.84). The mean knowledge score for physical activity was better i.e., 3.10(1.32) but the attitude scores was very low 0.87(1.07). After the programme, although not statistically significant there were slight increases in all scores, except 'intend to practise' physical activity after the programme. Conclusion: The knowledge, attitude and practices regarding healthy diet and physical exercise among these children were low. A series of improved and validated programmes are recommended for greater impact

Factors associated with Knowledge of Healthy Community, Empowers Nation (KOSPEN) and its implementation among community health volunteers in Kulim district, 2017

Introduction: The increasing burden of Non-Communicable Diseases and their prevalence has led Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia to introduce a community empowerment program “Komuniti Sihat, Perkasa Negara” acronymed as KOSPEN in July 2013. Thirty thousand community health volunteers have been trained nationwide up to May 2015. Objective: To identify the factors associated with knowledge on KOSPEN and its implementation among community health volunteers in Kulim District. Methods: A cross-sectional study based on simple random sampling was conducted among community health volunteers Kulim District. Volunteers participated in this study were 194. Data collected using self-administered questionnaire. All data collected were analysed using IBM SPSS version 22 involving descriptive and inferential statistics with significance level set at 0.05. Results: The study found that level of knowledge on KOSPEN is associated with employment status (p=0.02) and awareness level (p<0.001) among the community health volunteers. The level of implementation is associated with age (p=0.025), education level (p=0.007) and employment status (p=0.017) of the community health volunteers. Employment status (aOR=2.133, 95% CI=1.056-4.306, p=0.035) and awareness level (aOR=6.119, 95% CI=2.701-13.867 p<0.001) were predictors of level of knowledge on KOSPEN. Level of implementation of KOSPEN by the community health volunteers could be predicted by education level (aOR=4.085, 95% CI=1.299-12.851 p=0.016). Conclusion: Generally the KOSPEN volunteers had good knowledge on KOSPEN and implementation of KOSPEN program. However, there are still misconceptions among the KOSPEN volunteers regarding their functions and role. Therefore it is important to empower the volunteers with awareness on their roles, functions and good knowledge

Spatial analysis in primary health care utilization: a systematic review

Utilization is an important indicator for health service planning and can be determined through the count of actual usage of health services. There are also several determinants to health care utilization. This systematic review aims to explore the technical components from spatial analysis in primary health care utilization, the determinants frequently discussed, and the gap in the spatial analysis from these studies. Two databases were searched according to search strategy. A total of 15 articles were eligible. Each study was different in terms of analysis unit, spatial analysis, and utilization outcome. Spatial accessibility, sociodemographic, and geographical aspect were the frequent determinants discussed among the study of spatial utilization in this review. Several studies found the association between the determinants with utilization. However, spatial analysis in primary health care utilization studies still subjected to several limitation in term of their unit of analysis and source of data

Identifying self-care behaviour and its predictors among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients at a district of Northern Peninsular Malaysia

Introduction: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus among Malaysian aged ≥ 18 years increased from 11.6% (2006) to 17.5% (2015). Positive self–care behaviour leads to good glycaemic control. The objective of this study is to determine the self-care behaviour, its associated factors and predictors among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in government health clinics at a district of Northern Peninsular Malaysia. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 546 T2DM patients aged ≥ 18 years, recruited by simple random sampling method. A validated self-administered questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics, diabetes profile, knowledge, Health Belief Model (HBM) and Summary of Diabetes Self-care Activity Scale (SDSCA) was used. Data were analysed using SPSS version 22.0. Self-care behaviour is the dependent variable. Results: The respondents practised 3.4 (SD = 1.11) days self-care behaviour past 1 week. The predictors of self-care behaviour were self-efficacy (standardized β= 0.257, p< 0.001), knowledge (standardized β= 0.112, p= .007), female (standardized β= 0.107, p= 0.010), combination oral hypoglycaemic agents (OHA) and insulin (standardized β= -0.182, p= 0.002), and monthly income < RM1,000 (standardized β= -0.129, p= 0.002). The entire group of variables significantly predicted self-care behaviour [F (6, 539) = 15.79, p< 0.001, adjusted R2 = 0.140] with total variance of 14.9%. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor in self-care behaviour. Conclusion: The findings enable us to identify the specific groups with predicted lower self-care behaviour which are useful in future planning and implementation of intervention

A review on determinants of depression among adult prisoner

Prisoner tend to be marginalized and deprived that it burdens them with psychological trauma, predominantly depression. This review will identify the determinants of depression among adult inmates. Literatures published from 2012 to March 2017 were searched from various databases. Inclusion criteria were English full text, adults with a diagnosis of depression while exclusion criteria were diagnostic instruments, clinical or drug trials. The review adhered to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement reporting. A total of 168 studies were identified although only 14 studies were eligible for final review. Factors associated with inmates’ depression range from the potentially modifiable to non-modifiable. Recognized modifiable factors were psychological, family support, and environment while non-modifiable were biological, demographic, individual, and social. Determinants identified should be addressed in formulation of better targeting therapy, in terms of both prevention and treatment of depression among inmates

Interventions to reduce HIV-related stigma in the healthcare settings: a scoping systematic review

HIV-related stigma will discourage the efforts in preventing new infections and engaging people to receive treatment, care and support programmes. Identifying the valuable interventions programmes to reduce HIV-related stigma in a healthcare setting is vital in order to deliver the best health services. A scoping systematic review was conducted. Articles were searched based on Pubmed and ScienceDirect search engines. The key words used were HIV stigma, intervention and healthcare. Published English articles in the past ten years involving HIV stigma intervention studies, and studies that involved healthcare workers in a healthcare setting were included. Reviewed articles, systematic review and meta-analysis articles were excluded. Primary screening of titles and abstract of 85 articles were done. Secondary screening of 19 articles resulted in 8 articles, included in this manuscript. Most of the reviewed articles showed, application of the Integrated Theoretical Model in the intervention programme as a guide and utilising combined intervention components are effective tools in delivering the intervention programme. The stigma reduction-intervention programme should focus on the intervention components as a whole including training of HCW, role plays, group discussions, games, sharing of information and contacts with PLHIV as well presentations and lectures. An integrative model of behavioural prophecy is perceived and it is particularly essential for interventions that focus on creating and fortifying the aim in conducting the chosen behaviour

Faktor penentu prestasi pelajar Matrikulasi dalam subjek Perakaunan

This study explores the determinants of students’ performance in accounting at the matriculation level. Out of 450 questionnaires distributed, analysis on the 393 usable sample shows the overall average students’ grade point is at the range of C. Using stepwise multiple regression, the findings show significant positive relationships between the grade of management accounting subject with the previous cumulative grade point average and the achievement in financial accounting subject that was taken in the previous semester. Besides that, attitude, motivation and expected marks show significant relationships with the students’ performance. Interestingly, the results show that students without accounting exposure perform better than those with previous accounting exposure

Influence of an intervention program promoting voluntary fasting practices and its perceived barriers among overweight or obese Muslim women working in the public sector, Malaysia

Introduction: This article aims to describe the effect of an intervention to promote the practice of voluntary Islamic fasting and its barriers among a group of overweight and obese Muslim women working in the public sector in Malaysia. Materials and methods: In this quasi-experimental study, an intervention to encourage voluntary fasting was delivered in a half day seminar, supported by relevant booklets prepared. A self-administered questionnaire was used to capture data on voluntary fasting practices and its perceived barriers before and four months after the intervention. Data was analysed using Mc Nemar test to compare the proportion before and after the intervention. Significant level was set at p<0.05. Results: A total of 56 women were recruited. Their mean age was 36.65 years, most were married, had formal education up to secondary level and median income of RM 3000 per month. At baseline, 60.7% of them have practiced voluntary fasting. After intervention, the number of participants who practices voluntary fasting increased with a significant increase in three types of voluntary fasting (i.e. Mondays only, Thursdays only and 6 days in Shawal). The highest barrier to practice voluntary fasting was having no motivation to do so, followed by work commitment, health problems and family commitment. Discussion and Conclusion: Most of the respondents could practice voluntary fasting regularly if motivated to do so and backed by social support both at work and at home