NURSES’ PERCEIVED FAMILIARITY WITH DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

A major disaster, either natural or man-made, resulting in a large number of deaths and casualties, is hard to predict. Hence, preparing for, and responding to, a disaster is a public health priority that must be addressed, often in situations with constrained resources. The aim of this study was to assess nurses’ familiarity with disaster preparedness. A cross-sectional design was used. One hundred and thirty nurses were recruited using simple random sampling. Data was collected between December 2013 and February 2014 using a self-administered questionnaire. Pearson Chi Square analyses were used to determine the association between socio-demographic data and nurses’ perceived familiarity with disaster preparedness. A p value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The majority of the nurses were female (80%). Less than half were from the intensive care unit (30%). More than half were unfamiliar with disaster preparedness (62.3%). Among the socio-demographic factors, nurses’ workplace area was associated with perceived disaster preparedness

Knowledge of nutrition during pregnancy and associated factors among antenatal mothers

Background: Nutritional requirement increases during pregnancy can influence the growth, development, and health of the mother and her newborn child. Understanding the antenatal mothers’ nutrition knowledge is essential to developing effective strategies to curb malnutrition and encouraging healthier dietary behaviors. The aim of this study was to assess the level and associated factors of nutritional knowledge during pregnancy among antenatal mothers in a tertiary teaching hospital in northeast Malaysia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on 88 randomly selected antenatal mothers at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic during their antenatal care visits. Data was collected using a pretested self-administered questionnaire between December 2015 and February 2016. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine the association of selected socio-demographic variables and obstetric data with nutritional knowledge score among antenatal mothers. Results: The mean age of the participants was 32.06 ± 5.56 years. More than half (63.6%) of the antenatal mothers had good nutritional knowledge level. Higher occupational status (p=0.030) and monthly household income (p=0.016) of participants were significantly associated with higher nutritional knowledge score. Conclusion: These findings highlight the current knowledge gap that exists in antenatal mothers. It can be concluded that nutritional education ought to be intensified to address this issue

Herbal Medicines: Malaysian Women’s Knowledge and Practice

This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study among Malay women admitted in the antenatal and postnatal ward to determine the prevalence and use of herbal medicines during pregnancy and elemental analysis in the most popular herbs. A total of 460 women were surveyed. Herbal medicine use during pregnancy was 34.3%, while 73% utilized herbal medicines during labor, because of a belief that it may shorten and ease labor. The most commonly used herbal medicines in pregnancy were Anastatica hierochuntica L. (60.1%) followed by coconut oil (35.4%). The majority of women (89.2%) used only one type of herbal medicines and took one capsule/glass (38%) per day. Herbal medicines use by pregnant women is largely unsupervised (81%), with most women getting information from their parents (60.7%) and buying the products directly from traditional midwives (32.2%) and 77% agreed upon its efficacy and safety. From the 460 respondents, 89.8% women were in the low end of the herbs knowledge. There was a significant difference found between knowledge score and income (P<0.05). Microdiffraction analysis revealed significant presence of carbon, oxygen, silica, calcium, magnesium, aluminium, potassium, zinc, and iron that were found in Anastatica hierochuntica L. and proved to have good benefits for pregnancy

Stress Levels and Associated Factors Among Nursing Students From Different Ethnic Groups in Malaysia

Introduction: Nursing education and training is known to be an inherently stressful experience and poses challenging demands for students. The aim of this study is to evaluate the stress levels among nursing students from different ethnic groups in Malaysia. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited the January to February 2020 nursing students from a private university in Malaysia with a self-administered questionnaire. Participants’ level of stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) developed by Sheu and colleague in 2002. Data collected were analyzed with, One-way ANOVA and Spearman analysis to determine the significant factors associated with stress. Results: Two hundred nursing students across years one to three enrolled. The mean monthly household (family) income was MYR4686.25 ± 4660.38. Stress was significantly associated with ethnicity and monthly household (family) income (p< 0.05). Bonferroni post-hoc test demonstrated that the mean stress level of Malay students is statistically significant compared to Chinese and Indian students (p< 0.001). The PSS determined the nursing students’ stress level to be moderate. Conclusion: The association of stress levels with ethnicity, and monthly household (family) income suggested the need for suitable cultural and sufficient financial support for nursing students to reduce their stress levels

Knowledge of Sarcopenia and Associated Factors Among the Malaysian General Public: A Cross-sectional Study

Objectives Sarcopenia has emerged as a significant aging-related disease that affects many facets of societal-level and patient-level public health. This study analysed knowledge of sarcopenia and associated socio-demographic factors among the general public of Malaysia in order to effectively improve its prevention and countermeasures. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Selangor, Malaysia, using Google Forms among 202 Malaysian adults from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge scores. The continuous variables were evaluated using the independent t-test, Mann–Whitney test, and one-way analysis of variance test. The Spearman correlation coefficient was employed to determine the correlation between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge score levels. Results The final analysis included 202 participants. The mean±standard deviation age was 49.03±12.65. Only 6.9% of participants had good knowledge of sarcopenia and were aware of sarcopenia’s characteristics, consequences, and treatments. Post-hoc comparisons using the Dunnett T3 test showed statistical significance in mean knowledge score and age group (p=0.011) and education level (p≤0.001). The Mann–Whitney test revealed that gender (p=0.026) and current smoking status (p=0.023) significantly influenced knowledge scores. Conclusions The general public’s knowledge of sarcopenia was found to be poor to moderate and associated with age and education status. Therefore, education and interventions by policymakers and healthcare professionals to improve public knowledge of sarcopenia in Malaysia are needed

Knowledge of Sarcopenia and Associated Factors among the Malaysian General Public: A Cross-sectional Study

Objectives: Sarcopenia has emerged as a significant aging-related disease that affects many facets of societal-level and patient-level public health. This study analysed knowledge of sarcopenia and associated socio-demographic factors among the general public of Malaysia in order to effectively improve its prevention and countermeasures. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Selangor, Malaysia, using Google Forms among 202 Malaysian adults from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge scores. The continuous variables were evaluated using the independent t-test, Mann-Whitney test, and one-way analysis of variance test. The Spearman correlation coefficient was employed to determine the correlation between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge score levels. Results: The final analysis included 202 participants. The mean±standard deviation age was 49.03±12.65. Only 6.9% of participants had good knowledge of sarcopenia and were aware of sarcopenia's characteristics, consequences, and treatments. Post-hoc comparisons using the Dunnett T3 test showed statistical significance in mean knowledge score and age group (p=0.011) and education level (p≤0.001). The Mann-Whitney test revealed that gender (p=0.026) and current smoking status (p=0.023) significantly influenced knowledge scores. Conclusions: The general public's knowledge of sarcopenia was found to be poor to moderate and associated with age and education status. Therefore, education and interventions by policymakers and healthcare professionals to improve public knowledge of sarcopenia in Malaysia are needed