Eating behaviour and its associations with overweight among nurses on shift duty in teaching hospital

Overweight and obesity have become a global concern and estimated with more than 1.9 billion adults worldwide were overweight and more than 650 million were obese in 2016. Nurses in Malaysia were no exception to overweight and obesity. This research was conducted with the aim to identify the prevalence of overweight among nurses on shift duty in a teaching hospital and to understand the relationship between abnormal eating behavior and body mass index. A total of 280 respondents participated in this research and Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire was used. Body Mass Index (BMI) score was categorized according to Clinical Practice Guidelines 2004. Results showed that 68.5% of the nurses were either overweight (37.1%) or obese (31.4%). The nurses’ BMI does not showed any association with socio-demographic data except age (r=0.156). As age increases, the nurses’ BMI also increase. This research also showed that there was no association between emotional and external eating behavior to BMI. However, there was a statistically significant differences in BMI for restraint eating (F=6.056, p=0.003). In conclusion, restraint eating behavior was the most practiced form of eating behavior in an attempt to achieve the ideal body weight but unfortunately lead to overweight among the nurses. Overweight or obese nurses will have a negative impression to the society and even reduce their confidence towards nurses’ health education. Overweight or obesity also ruined the nurses’ working performance and quality of care for patients. This issue requires immediate action and interventions to promote healthy lifestyles and eating habits among nurses should be conducted in the hospital

Knowledge and practice among nurses on management of tuberculosis in a teaching hospital

Tuberculosis (TB) has become a worldwide public concern with 10.4 million new cases reported in 2015 and 1.4 million deaths. More importantly, an increase in trend in TB incidence among healthcare workers has become a major concern. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explore the knowledge and practice towards TB and the factors associated with it among nurses in a teaching hospital. The present study used cross-sectional design and stratified sampling method. A total of 275 nurses in a teaching hospital participated in this study. The knowledge and practice on management of TB was measured using a structured questionnaire. Majority of the respondents had good knowledge and practice on management of TB represented by 70.2% and 63.3%, respectively. However, knowledge gap (1.8%) and practice gap (0.4%) were identified in method of sputum collection. Work place setting was the only demographic factor found significantly associated with level of knowledge and practice (p=0.028). Level of knowledge and practice on management of TB identified among nurses was not associated with many socio-demographic factors. Nurses as frontline healthcare workers are at high risk of being exposed due to frequent contact with various patients especially those who are undiagnosed and TB suspect patients. Hence, implementation of TB Infection Control (TBIC) measures is important to minimize the risk of infection and cross-infection within hospital

Utilising Computerised Adaptive Testing to Alleviate Respondent Burden in Maternal Stress Assessment

Maternal mental health plays a pivotal role in perinatal care, with far-reaching implications for both maternal well-being and child development. Amidst global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for effective mental health assessment has surged. In response, this study investigates the utility of Computerised Adaptive Testing (CAT) for profiling maternal stress. Using the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) dataset, we focused on the Maternal Stress module, comprising the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Parental Stress Index (PSI). We generated an item pool from both scales and employed the Graded Response Model (GRM) for calibration. A final item bank of 105 items was consolidated. Using the Concerto software, we devised a CAT questionnaire for test administration. We then used the 'Firestar' R package to simulate the CAT with various stopping criteria, revealing substantial question reduction (up to 84.8%) while still maintaining high correlations with true theta scores (up to 99.9%). Nonetheless, limitations include assumptions in simulations, item calibration, and a specific focus on maternal stress. This study underscores CAT's potential to streamline assessments, enhancing perinatal mental health evaluations, while signaling the need to further explore CAT’s potential in this domain