Faktor-faktor sokongan sosial yang mempengaruhi penghargaan kendiri remaja Sekolah Menengah Daerah Melaka Tengah

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji penghargaan kendiri remaja sekolah menengah di daerah Melaka Tengah dan hubungannya dengan sokongan sosial. Remaja sekolah pada tingkatan 2 (13-14 tahun) dipilih secara rawak dari 3 buah sekolah kerajaan di daerah Melaka Tengah. Alat kajian ini mengguna borang soal selidik “The Piers-Harris Children Self Concept Scale” dan “Social Support Questionnaire”. Seramai 242 orang responden terlibat dalam kajian ini iaitu 111 (45.9%) lelaki dan 131 (54.1%) perempuan. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan di antara sokongan ibu bapa terhadap penghargaan kendiri remaja sekolah dengan ujian multivariate linear regresi (p 0.05). Kesimpulannya, peranan ibu bapa dalam memberi sokongan sosial kepada remaja sangat membantu dalam meningkatkan tahap penghargaan kendiri remaja

Reproductive health practices and use of health services among immigrant Indonesian women working in Malaysia

OBJECTIVE To describe the reproductive health practices of immigrant Indonesian women working in Malaysia and their accessibility to health services. METHODS A cross-sectional study using a validated self-administered questionnaire was conducted with 593 immigrant Indonesian workers who stayed in Malaysia for at least six months and within the reproductive age group. RESULTS About 13.5% of the respondents have used health facilities for reproductive health-related problems. Less than half of the respondents preferred to use public health facilities. Only 15% used treatment available in health facilities related to irregular menstrual cycles (34.6%), severe dysmenorrhea (58.7%) and nonspecific symptoms related to menstruation (31.7%). Family planning services were the most required health service. However, only 31.5% met the needs for family planning services. One-third of the respondents had sexual reproductive health problems and required treatment, but only 9.9% sought reproductive health services when needed. CONCLUSIONS Strategies to improve the accessibility to sexual reproductive health services requires a collaboration between the Indonesian government representatives in Malaysia and non-governmental organizations to address the reproductive health issues among immigrant Indonesian women in Malaysia. Health policy related to immigrant workers is needed in order to enhance the accessibility to women’s health needs for universal health coverage

Aligning theory with practice: Child health programmes in Malaysia, a Narrative Review

Introduction: The Malaysian healthcare system, particularly for maternal and child health, has been well recognised to provide high-quality services and be at par with systems in other developed countries. Current health programmes and technological advancements effectively detect vulnerable groups of children, such as small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants, antenatally. However, the postnatal care for SGA infants is not clearly evaluated, as this group of children is mostly classified as healthy in many medical contexts, especially in primary care settings. Available health programmes and healthcare service delivery must be continuously evaluated by implementing beneficial and relevant evidence-based theories. Methods: Articles, reports and guidelines used in providing mother and child health services in Malaysia published since 2000 were reviewed. Results: There was no specific monitoring strategy used for SGA infants without critical health issues in early childhood, as they were commonly treated as healthy infants. Several challenges in aligning theory with the current practice of healthcare service delivery and recommendations for dealing with such challenges were identified. Conclusion: The alignment of theory with the current practice of service delivery should be tailored to the needs and demands parallel to the dynamic change in populations in the urbanisation era

Development and validation of a survey instrument on drowning prevention and water safety among parents of primary school children

Introduction: Malaysia has limited educational material on drowning prevention and water safety. Currently, no formal regulations or acts applicable to drowning prevention were identified such as requiring lifeguards to be present in all public pools, pool fencing and wearing floatation devices for children when engaging in water activities. Limited awareness messages are available on drowning prevention, especially for parents. Assessment of parental knowledge, attitude and practice on childhood drowning and its preventive measures will assist in designing essential educational package for childhood drowning prevention and water safety. Aim: To design and evaluate the survey instrument examining knowledge, attitude and practice on drowning prevention and water safety among parents and guardians of primary school children. Materials and Methods: Prior to designing the questionnaire, documents analysis and literature reviewed were employed to provide an insight into the research topic. Six experts evaluated content validity with the score of Content Validity Index (CVI). The questionnaire was designed and cross-sectional study was conducted among 130 parents/guardians of primary school children in Selangor, Malaysia. Construct validity was estimated using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA); utilising principal components method and varimax rotation. The reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated by face validity and Cronbach’s alpha respectively. Results: An agreement obtained from the panel experts on the adequacy of the instrument; based on the I-CVI score ≥0.83 and scale-level content validity (S-CVI/Ave) characteristics of relevancy, clarity, simplicity and unambiguity of each item in the questionnaire ≥90%. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in 10 factor-solutions (69.4% total variance) constructed for attitude domain whereas nine factor-solutions (65.8% total variance) emerged for practice domain. The reliability for knowledge was KR20=0.58 whereas internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha for attitude and practice was 0.81 and 0.84. Conclusion: The drowning prevention and water safety questionnaire developed is useful and reliable for quantifying parental knowledge, attitude and practice characteristic related to water safety and drowning prevention for their children

Will they swim or sink? parental perception of water safety among their children

Introduction: The magnitude of drowning as one of the leading causes of death among children in Malaysia may have been underestimated. Little is known on the level of awareness on water safety among parents as it might be associated with appropriateness and adequacy of the supervision. This study aims to describe perceptions of water safety among parents of primary school children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with 719 respondent conducted to obtain information on parents self-reported on their children’s water-involved activity and swimming ability, self-estimated ability to rescue their child and perceptions of the risk of drowning and water safety for their children. Results: The result revealed that about 21.6% of respondents did not perceive drowning as one of the unintentional injury leading causes of death among children. Parents reported that their children had experienced a near- drowning incident (16.1%), and only 12.2% of the child had attended a formal swimming lesson. Majority of the parents did not involve in any water safety program (98.7%), can’t swim (61.6%), not been certified in CPR (87.3%) and not confident (87.3%) to perform resuscitation (CPR). Respondents also perceived their children could swim (42.1%), and they felt confident when their child in the water (45.6%). There were statistical differences between parents who reported their child had a near-drowning experience with their perception of children’s swimming ability. Conclusion: An exploration of parent’s perception of water safety provided an overview of the need for promoting awareness on drowning risk and water safety education in this country

Perlaksanaan Program Doktor Muda di Malaysia dan halangannya

Promosi kesihatan dan pendidikan kesihatan dengan menggunakan konsep pendidikan rakan sebaya telah diperluaskan. Program Doktor Muda merupakan satu program yang menggunakan konsep pendidikan rakan sebaya dan telah bertapak di Malaysia dalam tempoh yang lama. Keberkesanan program ini telah di buktikan dalam beberapa kajian, namun masih terdapat isu dalam memperkasakan program ini kerana ia melibatkan pelbagai pihak. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melihat halangan-halangan yang di dapati sepanjang program ini dijalankan. Oleh yang demikian, halangan-halangan di dalam program ini perlu diperhalusi. Sumber rujukan merupakan hasil kajian berkaitan program doktor muda dari tahun 2005 hingga 2018. Hasil sumber rujukan kajian terdahulu, di dapati halangan yang terdapat sepanjang program ini dijalankan dapat terbahagi kepada 3 domain, iaitu fasilitator, rakan sebaya dan modul latihan. Jika halangan ini dapat di atasi, Program Doktor Muda akan menjadi satu program yang dapat diikuti oleh negara luar. Secara tidak langsung, literasi kesihatan kanak-kanak dan remaja dapat dipertingkatkan

Work related determinants of breastfeeding discontinuation among employed mothers in Malaysia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This cross-sectional study assesses factors that contribute to discontinuing breastfeeding among employed mothers in Malaysia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A structured questionnaire was used in conducting this study involving all government health clinics in Petaling district between July and September 2006. Respondents were Malaysian women with children between the ages of six to twelve months who were formally employed. Factors studied were selected socio-demographic and work-related characteristics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From a total of 290 respondents, 51% discontinued breastfeeding. The majority (54%) of mothers who discontinued breastfeeding had breastfed their babies for less than three months. Compared to Malay mothers, the risk of breastfeeding discontinuation were higher among Chinese (AOR 3.7, 95% CI: 1.7, 7.8) and Indian mothers (AOR 7.3, 95% CI 1.9, 27.4). Not having adequate breastfeeding facilities at the workplace was also a risk factor for breastfeeding discontinuation (AOR 1.8, 95% CI: 1.05, 3.1).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is important that workplaces provide adequate breastfeeding facilities such as a room in which to express breast milk and a refrigerator, and allow mothers flexible time to express breast milk.</p

Exploring the determinant of pre-pregnancy care services usage among reproductive ages women in Kedah, Malaysia

Introduction In Malaysia although mortality rate among women of reproductive ages has reduced over the years, the reduction has been stagnant for the past ten years. In order to achieve the 5th Millennium Development Goal, several measures need to be taken including a proper implementation of pre-pregnancy services in this country. This study explores the awareness, intention and usage of pre-pregnancy care (PPC) services and its determinant among women of reproductive ages in Kedah, Malaysia. Methods This is a qualitative study, which consisted of a focus group discussion (FGD) among women in the ages of 18 to 45 years old from all ethnic groups who attended four government clinics in the state of Kedah. The mothers were chosen through purposive sampling from twelve districts that were selected through a multistage random sampling. A semi-structured questionnaire was utilized during the FGD. The results from the FGD were recorded verbatim and thematic analysis was finalized once saturation of information from respondents was achieved. Results These are two themes was identified, namely personal reasons and reasons of service and there are several subthemes under two main themes. Under the Personal reason themes, the subthemes including awareness and intention to used the services, knowledge, perception, social support and history of medical illness. While under pre-pregnancy care services themes, the subthemes including the promotion of the services, the communication relationship with the health staff, the waiting time and also the accessibility of the service. Conclusions As a conclusion, there is still part of society who was unaware of prepregnancy services and its importance in reducing maternal mortality rate as well as producing good pregnancy outcome. Information and knowledge on pre-pregnancy care services should be disseminated among community members through various means including roadshows and pre wedding workshops