Cross Cultural, Bilingual Group Experience: Evidence that Process-Focused Groups Work

A group of counselors, counselor educators and trainees convened a therapeutic group in Kajang, Malaysia, facilitated by a counselor from the United States. Although Malaysian counselors are accustomed to content-driven groups, this group adhered to process-focused protocols. A Delphi analysis on the outcome of the group was performed by a multinational team. Results suggested that the group followed the same stage development as described in the American literature and that the process-focused group appeared to facilitate the crossing of cultural lines more effectively than a content-driven group

Psychosocial Intervention in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic in Sarawak

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been anticipating a greater need for mental health and psychosocial support with the rise in mental health issues when facing many struggles and uncertainties, testing the limits of our current health care system. In this paper, we aim to present a general view of the psychosocial support implemented in Sarawak during the COVID-19 pandemic from the lens of different socio-ecological systems in Sarawak which include the healthcare system, community organizations, and the policy makers. Firstly, this paper provides an overview of the COVID-19 situation in Sarawak in general for the past year. Worth to mention, Sarawak was the first state in Malaysia recorded fatality case resulted from COVID-19 and this inevitably triggered strong negative emotional response during the initial stage of the pandemic. Secondly, the combined efforts initiated by the local state government, the state health departments, several general hospitals and major health clinics were addressed. The delivery of health care service had to be modified according to the strict preventive and social distancing measures recommended by the public health system, including the shift of conventional service to the provision of tele-counselling and psychological first aid. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on mental health has brought the politicians’ attention. Lastly, the challenges faced in dealing with the mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential paths of the mental health movement were discussed

Hybrid particle swarm optimization with particle elimination for the high school timetabling problem

In this paper, a PSO-based algorithm that hybridized Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Hill Climbing (HC) is applied to high school timetabling problem. This hybrid has two features, a novel solution transformation and particle elimination. The proposed methodologies are tested on the XHSTT-2014 dataset (which is relatively new for the school timetabling problem) plus other additional instances. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is efective in solving small and medium instances compared to standalone HC and better than the conventional PSO for most instances. In a comparison to the state of the art methods, it achieved the lowest mean of soft constraint violations for 7 instances and the lowest mean of hard constraint violations for 1 instance

Metaphoric drawing narrative career counselling: Teaching work value and career identity statuses via experiential learning method

Metaphoric cards as a tool in counselling sessions are getting more scholarly attention in the fields of career counselling and education. In general, metaphoric cards consist of visual image that depicted daily life events and human expressions which are used as an alternative form of expression other than verbal communication. This paper aims to introduce metaphorical drawing as the experiential learning method in teaching narrative career counselling course. This is a qualitative study consists of metaphorical drawing and written reflection with six participants by using thematic analysis research method. The metaphorical drawing results revealed that, two new themes had been emerged in the exploration of work value and identity status. The results showed that some but not all participants benefited from the metaphorical drawing session to fully express their identity statuses. However, the combination of written reflection and verbal explanation of the metaphorical drawing did help the participants to convey their identity concern. In conclusion, metaphorical drawing session could be adopted in counsellor education to promote more understanding of narrative counselling technique and also in teaching work value and career identity status. For future research, it is important to look into how metaphorical technique can be introduced to school students in understanding their career choices

DDX3X loss is an adverse prognostic marker in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and is associated with chemoresistance in aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes.

Funder: addenbrooke's charitable trust, cambridge university hospital

Toward Sustainable Environmental Quality : Priority Research Questions for Asia

Environmental and human health challenges are pronounced in Asia, an exceptionally diverse and complex region where influences of global megatrends are extensive and numerous stresses to environmental quality exist. Identifying priorities necessary to engage grand challenges can be facilitated through horizon scanning exercises, and to this end we identified and examined 23 priority research questions needed to advance toward more sustainable environmental quality in Asia, as part of the Global Horizon Scanning Project. Advances in environmental toxicology, environmental chemistry, biological monitoring, and risk-assessment methodologies are necessary to address the adverse impacts of environmental stressors on ecosystem services and biodiversity, with Asia being home to numerous biodiversity hotspots. Intersections of the food–energy–water nexus are profound in Asia; innovative and aggressive technologies are necessary to provide clean water, ensure food safety, and stimulate energy efficiency, while improving ecological integrity and addressing legacy and emerging threats to public health and the environment, particularly with increased aquaculture production. Asia is the largest chemical-producing continent globally. Accordingly, sustainable and green chemistry and engineering present decided opportunities to stimulate innovation and realize a number of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Engaging the priority research questions identified herein will require transdisciplinary coordination through existing and nontraditional partnerships within and among countries and sectors. Answering these questions will not be easy but is necessary to achieve more sustainable environmental quality in Asia. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:1485–1505

The effect of online “Love and Care” self-compassion practice among Malaysian counselling students

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of online self-compassion practice on selfcompassion, emotional regulation, and perceived wellbeing in counselling students. Counsellors are exposed to high risks of psychological and emotional distress, therefore self-compassion as self-care strategy is essential to be cultivated among counselling students. In this study, purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants via the internet. Thirty-two counselling students participated in a 14-day online program as an intervention of self-compassion practice. Data for self-compassion, emotional regulation and perceived wellbeing were collected before, after and 1 month follow up of the program. Data were analyzed using nonparametric Friedman test. The result shows the potential of such intervention by revealing improvements in several measures over two weeks and supported partial hypotheses. Firstly, the findings shows that the daily selfcompassion practice has a significant effect on self-compassion, specifically self-kindness, and mindfulness. Secondly, there is also significant difference on wellbeing. Lastly, supported with qualitative data in participants’ survey, the overall experience with daily self-compassion practice is all positively worded. Both quantitative and qualitative findings from our present study showed that the intervention greatly increase participants’ sense of self-kindness and perceived wellbeing throughout the 14 days. Overall, this study supports the previous studies on the effectiveness of self-compassion and further supports the wellbeing of counselling students. The implication of the study is self-compassion and wellbeing could be promoted through a short intervention program via online platform, and it may serve as a support tool to other traditional forms of intervention

Conducting community-based participatory research in an urban Malaysian community: lessons learned and challenges in establishing partnership

This paper presents the process of how partnerships are established between an urban residential community and an academic institution in Malaysia by employing community-based participatory research, which involves researchers, community members, and organizational representatives as coresearchers. The research process encompasses colearning, power sharing, and coconstructing of knowledge, with the community members driving the research direction. The research paradigm is grounded on conducting research with the community. This paper highlights the experience and lessons learned while applying the principles of community-based participatory research that promotes social participation of older persons living in a residential community. Two pertinent challenges surface in the research process. The first challenge involves the complexity noted in the gap between the emancipation of community-based participatory research and the hierarchical social structure of the society. The second challenge is the prevalence of unspoken yet subtle domination that undermines the local cultural values affecting the process of coconstructing knowledge with the community. Recommendations for addressing these challenges include future partnerships with other Malaysian communities as well as cross-border research partnerships

Challenges faced by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder in Malaysia

Purpose: A limited number of studies have explored the challenges and issues faced by parents with children of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are receiving speech-language services in Malaysia. This study aimed to explore the perceptions, challenges, and experiences of parents whose children with ASD are receiving speech-language therapy services. Methods: Three individual interview sessions were conducted with eight parents of children with ASD. Interviews were transcribed and evaluated using thematic analysis. Results: Four major themes were discovered from the interviews with the parents of children with ASD. These included: (1) a lack of knowledge about ASD, (2) insights into the impacts of ASD on the parents’ lives, (3) their perceived challenges at the time they were seeking speech intervention, and (4) their views about the positive aspects of their children receiving speech therapy. Conclusions: Parents viewed their children’s speech therapy as positive and helpful, but they also perceived barriers and challenges when accessing this therapy. An increase in public awareness about ASD and establishing structured ASD support group could provide helpful resources for parents and may assist them in overcoming these challenges. Future studies should determine coping strategies and solutions for these challenges to provide better support for families of children with ASD

Stroke Patients’ Characteristics and Clinical Outcomes: A Pre-Post COVID-19 Comparison Study

Background and Objectives: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused significant disruption to established medical care systems globally. Thus, this study was aimed to compare the admission and outcome variables such as number of patient and its severity, acute recanalisation therapy given pre-post COVID-19 at a primary stroke centre located in Malaysia. Methods: This cross-sectional hospital-based study included adult ischaemic stroke patients. Variables of the study included the number of ischaemic stroke patients, the proportions of recanalisation therapies, stroke severity during admission based on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, functional outcome at discharge based on the modified Rankin Scale, and relevant workflow metrics. We compared the outcome between two six-month periods, namely the pre-COVID-19 period (March 2019 to September 2019) and the COVID-19 period (March 2020 to September 2020). Results: There were 131 and 156 patients, respectively, from the pre-COVID-19 period and the COVID-19 period. The median door-to-scan time and the median door-to-reperfusion time were both significantly shorter in the COVID-19 period (24.5 min versus 12.0 min, p = 0.047) and (93.5 min versus 60.0 min, p = 0.015), respectively. There were also significantly more patients who received intravenous thrombolysis (7.6% versus 17.3%, p = 0.015) and mechanical thrombectomy (0.8% versus 6.4%, p = 0.013) in the COVID-19 period, respectively. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic may not have caused disruptions of acute stroke care in our primary stroke centre. Our data indicated that the number of ischaemic stroke events remained stable, with a significant increase of recanalisation therapies and better in-hospital workflow metrics during the COVID-19 pandemic period. However, we would like to highlight that the burden of COVID-19 cases in the study area was very low. Therefore, the study may not have captured the true burden (and relevant delays in stroke patient management) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effect of the pandemic crisis is ongoing and both pre-hospital and in-hospital care systems must continue to provide optimal, highly time-dependent stroke care services