Reliability and validatidity of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) on breast cancer survivors: Malaysia case study

Objective: Cancer survivors may experience psychiatric or psychological disturbances during or after medical treatment, but most of it was under-reported or unrecognized by the health care professionals. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) is a common and widely used tool for determining psychological distress among cancer population. This study determined the reliability and validity of both Malay and Chinese translated English version of HADS. Method: Malay and Chinese versions of HADS were administered to 150 breast cancer survivors Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and convergent validity was assessed to determine the internal consistency and the validity of the questionnaire. Result: The prevalence of anxiety was 7.3% whereas the prevalence of depression was 4.7%. The internal consistency for the full scale on Malay version was 0.87, for the anxiety subscale was 0.81 and for depression subscale was 0.73. For the scales on Chinese version, the Cronbach’s alpha (α) was 0.81, for the anxiety subscale was 0.67 and for the depression subscale was 0.70. The internal consistency of this study was found to be satisfactory with the α coefficient values of above 0.70, as the recommended values. The correlation coefficient ranged from 0.40 to 0.78 for the anxiety and depression sub- scale for both Malay and Chinese version of HADS, which showed that the correlations between the items of each subscale with its subscale were moderate. Conclusion: The Malay and Chinese version of HADS were reliable and valid instrument in assessing anxiety and depres- sion among breast cancer survivors

Effect of taking chicken essence on cognitive functioning of normal stressed human volunteers

Objective: This study evaluates the effect of a commercial brand of chicken essence (BEC) on the various parameters related to stress and cognition of human volunteers. BEC is produced by a hot-water extraction process from chicken meat under high pressure conditions. It contains concentrated amounts of proteins, amino acids and peptides such as carnosine compared to homemade traditional chicken soup. Due to the unique extraction process, it has been postulated that readily absorbed amino acids and bioactive peptides are present in BEC. Methods: In this study, we evaluated the effect BEC in comparison with a placebo on a group of distressed medical students. Students were randomly divided into two groups and given either BEC or a placebo drink daily for two weeks.Before and after the two weeks, the students were given a series of tests to asses their level of cognitive functioning and perceived stress level while being monitored for EEG recording. The combination of these tests, namely Digit span, Arithmetic and Letter-number sequencing, generally assessed the student's attention and working memory. Results: The working memory performance of student's who ingested essence of chicken was found to be significantly better than those who consumed placebo when data comparing baseline and after two weeks consumption were compared. Conclusion: This study seems to suggest that essence of chicken has positive effects on the subjects' cognitive functions

Short term outcome of pshycoeducational program on coping abilities of mother of children with cancer

Objective: To evaluate a psycho-educational program (PeP) for parents ofchildren with cancer (PoCwC) in Malaysia. Methods: Seventy-nine parents were invited to be either in an intervention ( n = 41) or a control group ( n = 38 ). Baseline assessment took place upon agreement of participant. Shortterm effects were measured four weeks the intervention. Control parents received standard care. Intervention parents received in addition to standard care, 4 x 50 min sessions of information on childhood cancer and coping strategies. Result: Repeated measures of ANOVAs revealed increased knowledge about cancer ( p = 0.01 ) in the intervention parents compared with standard care. Intervention parents reported reduced anxiety and increased activities with children after the program; however, differences were not significant. · Conclusions: This PeP, the first of its kind in Malaysia, has significantly increased levels of knowledge among parents of seriously ill children which may point towards the potential for these services to increase coping in Malaysian PoCwC

Mechanisms of hypnosis: toward the development of a biopsychosocial model

Evidence supports the efficacy of hypnotic treatments, but there remain many unresolved questions regarding how hypnosis produces its beneficial effects. Most theoretical models focus more or less on biological, psychological, and social factors. This scoping review summarizes the empirical findings regarding the associations between specific factors in each of these domains and response to hypnosis. The findings indicate that (a) no single factor appears primary, (b) different factors may contribute more or less to outcomes in different subsets of individuals or for different conditions, and (c) comprehensive models of hypnosis that incorporate factors from all 3 domains may ultimately prove to be more useful than more restrictive models that focus on just 1 or a very few factors

The relationship between psychological distress with salivary á-amylase and physical symptoms among breast cancer survivors

Background and Aims: This study examined the stress levels, the stressors and biomarker such as Alpha (α)-Amylase enzyme which is secreted under distress conditions. The aim was to determine the relationship between these three variables. Methods: The study respondents were made up of cancer outpatients from 3 hospitals namely the Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Seberang Jaya and Johor Baru, Pantai Ipoh and Putrajaya. The Personal Stress Inventory (PSI) questionnaire was used to identify stressors, while the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to determine the psychological distress levels. The Salimentary Oral Swab (SOS) Technique was used to collect the saliva and then the Salivary α-Amylase Assay Kit was used to analyse for α amylase. Results: The majority of respondents were stressed due to their sensitive emotion and nervousness in their daily lives (68.7%), they had poor memory and short attention spans of carrying out job tasks (67.3%) as well as they were emotionally depressed (65.3%). Their poor memory and short attention span (p = 0.037), heavy work load and poor task delivery (p = 0.008) were predictors for distress using HADS. The salivary α-amylase concentration was significantly related to the stress levels (p = 0.002). Conclusion: Breast cancer respondents with musculoskeletal system related symptoms, with heavy work load and poor task delivery, as well as had poor memory and short attention span were at higher risk of experiencing psychological distress. The salivary α-amylase which had significant relationships with psychological distress was therefore, a potential biological indicator for distress, while the musculoskeletal system related symptoms from the PSI questionnaire were predictors for distress

A pilot placebo-controlled, double-blind, and randomized study on the cognition-enhancing benefits of a proprietary chicken meat ingredient in healthy subjects

Background: It has long been postulated that the relative abundance of specific nutrients can affect cognitive processes and emotions. Newly described influences of dietary factors on neuronal function and synaptic plasticity have revealed some of the vital mechanisms that could be responsible for the action of diet on brain health and cognitive function. Here, through a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we asked if the newly discovered chicken meat ingredient-168 (CMI-168) could be beneficial to the cognitive function in healthy adults. Methods: Normal, healthy subjects were supplemented with either placebo or CMI-168 for 6 weeks. The subjects were given a series of cognitive tests to examine their levels of cognitive functioning at the beginning and end of supplementation, as well as two weeks after termination of supplementation. The combination of these tests, namely Digit Span Backwards, Letter-Number Sequencing, and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), was used to assess the subjects' attention and working memory. For all comparisons, the probability level of p < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant using repeated measure 2-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-hoc test. Results: Overall, subjects supplemented with CMI-168 showed significantly (p < 0.01) better performance in all cognitive tests after 6 weeks' supplementation compared to control and such superior performance was maintained even 2 weeks after termination of supplementation. Conclusions: The present study reveals the cognition-enhancing properties of a recently developed chicken meat ingredient, likely arising from the promotion of attention and prefrontal cortex functions

Knee pain and functional disability of knee osteoarthritis patients seen at Malaysian government hospitals

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the main cause of knee pain. It also affects individual’s physical functioning. Anti- inflammatory drugs and knee replacement are the mainstay methods in the management of knee OA in Malaysia. However, patients with knee OA often suffer pain. The general objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioural intervention module on knee pain, functional disability and psychological outcomes among knee OA patients attending Orthopedics Clinics in Hospital Putrajaya and Hospital Serdang, Malaysia. This study aims to determine the baseline level of knee pain and functional disability among knee OA patients. Methods: Baseline results on the knee pain and functional disability were obtained from a two arm parallel- group randomized controlled study. Three hundred patients aged 35 to 75 years diagnosed with knee OA were recruited. A set of pre tested and validated Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) questionnaire was used in this study. Results: Mean baseline of KOOS pain was 56.09 (SD=21.75) and 52.26 (SD=22.08) for the intervention and control groups respectively. Participants in the intervention and control groups had a mean KOOS function in daily living of 61.11 (SD=21.20) and 56.72 (SD=22.13) respectively. Overall mean baseline of KOOS function in sport and recreation was 35.30 (SD=27.38). Conclusions: Majority of participants had moderate level of knee pain and functional disability in daily living. However, participants had more extreme symptoms of functional disability in sport and recreation. Therefore, interventions to reduce knee pain and functional disability symptoms in knee OA are needed

Reliability and factor structure of the General Health Questionnaire-12 among university students

The 12- item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) has been translated into many languages and widely used in different settings and countries. Its reliability and psychometric properties were extensively studied in many population groups which suggested that it measures psychological distress in multidimensional construct. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the reliability and factor structure of the Bahasa Malaysia version of the GHQ-12 among university students attending a health program at a Malaysian public university. Method: The cross sectional survey was conducted on 306 undergraduate students aged between 18 to 27 years old who visited the booth set up for mental health screening at a health program. The screening was conducted using a self-administered, validated Bahasa Malaysia version of GHQ-12 questionnaire. Results: Using exploratory factor analysis, the Bahasa Malaysia version of GHQ-12 was found to have a three factor structures namely depressive symptoms, self-esteem and perceived abilities which accounted for 58% of the item variance. The overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be high (0.84) with each factor having acceptable inter-item consistency ranging from 0.61 to 0.82. Conclusion: The findings of the study show that the Bahasa Malaysia version GHQ-12 is reliable and has good structural characteristics. It can assess a few domains of the psychological status of university students. It also helps in providing more information on the domain which may become a focus target of intervention in the prevention of mental illness

Effects of sports nutrition education intervention on sports nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice, and dietary intake of Malaysian team sports athletes

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of sports nutrition education intervention on improvements in sports nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP), and dietary intake among Malaysian team sports athletes. Methods: A total of 105 male participants representing four team sports under the elite sports programme were recruited based on a name list provided by National Sports Council of Malaysia. Teams were assigned by stratified random sampling to either the experimental group (EG) (n=52) or the comparison group (CG) (n=53). The EG received seven weeks of education intervention programme based on a validated booklet covering basic sports nutrition for team sports. A self-administered sports nutrition KAP questionnaire and dietary intake assessment of total energy, carbohydrates, proteins and fats based on three-day food records was conducted before and after the intervention. Results: There were significant increments (p<0.001) in the EG’s post-intervention mean scores for knowledge (6.21±2.95), attitude (9.04±6.65) and practice (4.39±4.27) compared to decrements in the respective mean scores of the CG (-2.15±1.45; -1.72±5.06; -0.74±2.32). Significant improvements were found in the EG’s total energy intake, total carbohydrate and total protein intake compared to those of the CG. Conclusion: The sports nutrition education intervention was useful in improving the sports nutrition KAP scores, total carbohydrate and total protein intake of team sports athletes

Prevalence of psychological stress among undergraduate students attending a health programme in a Malaysian University

Psychological stress among undergraduate students is associated with poor academic results, physical ill-health and psychiatric disorders. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of psychological stress and its associated factors among undergraduate students attending a health programme in a local university. This is a cross-sectional study among undergraduate students attending a health programme in a local university. The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used to determine the presence of psychological stress at a cut-off point of 4 and above. Analysis was conducted to determine any association between gender, ethnicity, year of study in the university, recent health-seeking contact with a doctor, and psychological stress among the participants. The prevalence of psychological stress among undergraduate students attending a health program in a Malaysian University was 49.3%. There was no significant association with any of the socio-demographic factors studied (p>0.05). The prevalence of psychological stress in this study was significantly high, and irrespective of gender, ethnicity, year of study in the university, and recent health-seeking contact with a doctor. Hence, the findings of this study show that it may be a useful strategy to integrate such health programs regularly in activities of colleges and universities, with the aim of promoting mental health and wellness among the students